"We need a PSD2 policy for insurance".

Anna-Carina Häusler, CEO of Apinity, talks about the acquisition by Munich Re and why the insurance industry is struggling with digitization.

The idea sounds simple: a marketplace where insurance companies can buy programming interfaces to drive the long overdue digitization of their industry. Nevertheless, Apinity is with its offer, sees itself as a jump-start for modernization. Now Munich Re, Germany's largest reinsurer, is acquiring the startup, which was previously majority-owned by Allianz. In an interview, CEO Anna-Carina Häusler explains why the deal had to happen, why insurers need external help and where her company is still headed.

Ms. Häusler, you have just negotiated Apinity's move from Allianz to Munich Re, and Tuesday was the official closing. How exhausting is it as a start-up founder to negotiate with these two insurance giants?

The last two weeks have been tough, I sometimes wished the day had 48 hours. But now it's done and we're delighted, of course.

You emerged from the Allianz incubator Syncier, so you actually had a major strategic investor on board. Why are you now part of Munich Re?

It was a decision that resulted from our discussions with clients. After all, we operate a marketplace where providers can sell their application programming interfaces (APIs) to insurers. We had many good pitches to insurers with the concept, but at some point they usually said, "That's great, but unfortunately you're with Allianz." Allianz never interfered much with us, but the other primary insurers were inhibited. Inhibitions that they would not have with a reinsurer like Munich Re. That's why we tried to go our own way.

Allianz could have simply shut us down.

Anna-Carina Häusler

And Allianz went along with that? After all, that's how a start-up loses out of its own ecosystem, and then to another insurance company.

We shared quite transparently what we heard in the pitches and explained why this is not lucrative for Allianz in the long term either. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly we found open ears. Of course, it wasn't done in one conversation. But the fact that they agreed in the end shows us that Allianz saw the value in our approach. Allianz could have simply shut us down.

Their approach is to provide companies with the products of external service providers and to handle the entire process, including the contract with the provider and technical integration. The latter in particular is likely to be difficult in a rather sedate industry like the insurance world, isn't it?

Insurers are generally not that digital yet. Which is fascinating, because they actually rely on technology for things like data analytics. But things are shifting. Companies are investing more. Meanwhile, they are also more willing to buy products externally instead of developing everything themselves. These are, of course, trends that play into our hands.

Can just any ambitious developer upload an API to you, as in the App Store?

No, we take great care to ensure that our providers reach a certain level of maturity. That's a bit of a curse and a blessing when you come out of a big company. After all, we have taken over the due diligence processes of Allianz. Of course, they are a bit more time-consuming. On the other hand, we know the users inside out.

We have taken over Allianz's due diligence, which is a blessing and a curse.

Anna-Carina Häusler

Who are the people who work there?

So far, it's mainly insurtechs, such as IDNow, who are in our marketplace. Their identity check is useful for every insurance company, because at some point they have to check whether every customer's ID is genuine. No matter what channel the insurance is sold on. In the long term, we would also like to attract more traditional software providers to our marketplace. My wish would be that we would eventually be the place where insurers buy in all their services, no matter for which process step.

What would help make this wish a reality in the near future?

What would be a huge boost for us, of course, would be some kind of PSD2 directive....

... The directive that, among other things, obliges banks in the EU to share their customer data with third-party providers...

...exactly, such a directive for the insurance world would all at once create the opportunity for many new APIs. But I would advise insurers - not entirely altruistically, of course - to start looking for external help today anyway. There are many great products out there that are ready to go. In any case, it's better than developing them yourself. At first glance, this may look like a cost saving, but as a rule it is a milkmaid's calculation.

Your business model is not actually insurance-specific; such an API marketplace would have to work in other industries as well. Wouldn't other industries also be lucrative?

Of course it would be attractive. I believe that a tech product can only develop further if it keeps moving into new sectors. At the moment, we have plenty of plans in the insurance sector.

Thank you very much for the interview.

Personal details: Anna-Carina Häusler is Managing Director of Apinity. Previously, she was Director of Marketplace at Syncier (Allianz), from which the company emerged in September 2022. Before her time there, she had already built up an API marketplace at the defunct payment service provider Wirecard, there for banks. She then spent some time working for digital consultancy Adex Partners. Häusler studied Business Management and Sales at Heilbronn University.