Company plans to digitize most core functions and redesign workflows as it targets material expense savings
Chubb plans to trim its workforce by as much as 20% over the next three to four years as part of a groupwide digital transformation aimed at automating key insurance functions.
The initiative, outlined in an investor presentation, will roll through roughly 70% of the organization in the next three years as Chubb digitizes business units along with their underlying functions and processes from end to end.
Chubb currently employs about 43,000 people globally, according to its third-quarter company profile.
The company said the program will encompass sales and marketing, underwriting administration and support, claims, finance and other operational areas as it redesigns workflows and systems.
Chubb is targeting run-rate expense savings equivalent to about 1.5 points off its combined ratio once the transformation is in place.
The company’s plans come against a broader backdrop of automation pressure across the sector, with MIT’s Project Iceberg estimating that existing AI tools are technically capable of performing tasks worth 11.7% of total US wage value, or about $1.2 trillion annually.
The research identifies insurance as “squarely in the zone of highest exposure” because many core activities are document-heavy and rule-driven, including underwriting support, policy administration and claims work that can be broken into discrete, automatable tasks.
As part of what it described in the presentation as “radical automation goals,” Chubb aims to automate 85% of its major underwriting and claims processes. The company also expects that 85% of its global gross written premium will be generated by business that is either fully digital or “significantly digitally enabled.”
Other large carriers are pursuing similar strategies, with Allianz planning to cut between 1,500 and 1,800 positions within its travel insurance operations over the next 12 to 18 months as AI reshapes customer and claims processes, a reduction equal to about 6.6%–8% of Allianz Partners’ total workforce.
Taken together, these moves indicate that major insurers are using automation programs not only to change systems but also to reset workforce models in lines of business where digital channels and AI tools can handle higher volumes of routine work.
Data, artificial intelligence and process automation “will be the driving force to achieve growth at low marginal cost,” Chubb said in the presentation.
The company indicated it is positioning these tools at the core of its operating model to scale its insurance business while seeking to keep cost growth in check.