The combination of Ageas UK and esure will create the third largest UK personal lines insurer with a balanced and diversified distribution spanning Direct PCW, brokers and partnerships. The acquisition of esure will enable Ageas UK to accelerate the diversification of its distribution strategy into the important PCW channel in the UK market. Its underwriting footprint will widen Ageas UK’s target customer demographics and enable growth to a top-line of GBP 3.25 billion (EUR 3.8 billion) by 2028.

It will also bring into sharp focus the competitive advantages to be gained by insurers that deploy modern MACH-architected core platforms compared to those dependent on the ‘gorilla in the market’- Guidewire.

See Further Reading below for a definition of MACH

esure's business and operational model. business innovation followed a transformational strategy led by CEO David McMillan and backed by owner Bain Capital. This included replatforming on the EIS core systems platform 

Ageas acquisition announcement states "The acquisition of esure creates significant potential for operational synergies and capital benefits to be realised in the medium term. We expect economies of scale in our UK personal lines portfolio and the accelerated implementation of the EIS IT platform, including esure’s complementary claims module, to drive operational efficiencies and cost avoidance for Ageas UK. Continued focus on technology, data, and AI is expected to create further competitive advantages. In addition, capital benefits from enhanced diversification and the inclusion of esure in Ageas’s partial internal model are expected to emerge over time.

Forming the backbone of esure’s technology platform are:

esure's then Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, Roy Jubraj, explained the massive amount of planning and hard work required to become an “Insurer of the Future”. 

“Our technology partners have been carefully chosen and we have E&Y leading the programme to help ensure that these ambitious goals are achieved.”

The vision, leadership, strategic planning, implementation, and sheer hard yards work involved are a testimony to the transformational excellence implemented at esure. 

Direct Line Group had also transformed much of its business and, like Aviva, shares the Guidewire core platform at the beating heart of the business. Aviva is noted for its own transformation programs and like Ageas and esure sought considerable cost savings and other benefits from the acquisition.

The next two years will be fascinating to see which of these insurance groups copes better responding to, and anticipating the evolving and unmet needs of customers? Which will cope better with the dramatic geo-political changes shaping the world from wild fires and floods to the unpredictable changes to global trade triggered by President Trump's tariff strategies and evolving alliances?

Both groups have embraced AI from RPA to #GenerativeAI and the allure of #AgenticAI. It is one thing to experiment with trials and quite another to deliver value from well-implemented and secure deployments of AI. esure has described its own achievements combining the adaptiveness of its EIS platform with data fluidity and enterprise-wide, connected insurance ecosystems.

Will Ageas and esure with their modern MACH-architected technology platforms, leapfrog Aviva and Direct Line Group with their more traditional combination of ‘modern legacy’ Guidewire and hard-coded APIs and integrations?

The promised benefits of MACH-architected platforms will be evidenced in the competitive rivalry and business outcomes of Ageas & esure, and Aviva and Direct Line Group.  MACH platforms include: -

•    EIS
•    FintechOS
•    ICE
•    Instanda
•    Genasys
•    Ignite
•    Novidea

I have long supported these new MACH platforms. We will see the results soon enough in this public arena.

In the meantime, what will other insurers do? Especially as AI initiatives demand high-quality data from internal and external sources to drive the business forward. In the short-term, AI and Data Technology partners can surface, categorise/describe and orchestrate data for AI. But true competitive advantage will come from the data fluidity and customer-centricity promised by MACH platforms rather than the policy-centric models of older core platforms.

The Ageas/esure announcement has put the MACH cat amongst the traditional pigeons!  I am excited to watch the outcomes.  

Further Reading

MACH architected cores

What is a MACH-architected system?

  • Microservices 
  • API first
  • Cloud native
  • Headless

Microservices architected means that you can build a software product as a set of independent components — microservices — where each component operates on its own and interacts with others through APIs. As a result, teams can deploy, change, and improve separate software components without disrupting the rest of the system.

API-first architectures are more flexible allowing teams to choose the most appropriate frontend technology to solve priority business problems. Developers can unify logic across touchpoints and avoid duplication of development work, as well as eliminate channel silos.

APIs allow for fast communication between components, meaning that businesses can reduce the time to implement new touchpoints and accelerate speed-to-market processes.

Cloud-native platforms use the public, private, and hybrid cloud as part of a cloud migration strategy to develop scalable and dynamic data solutions. Insurers will be more resilient to performance issues that often bug on-premises systems.

Headless - far from being clueless!  Insurers that employ headless architecture don’t have a default frontend system that defines how content is presented to end users. You will be able to deliver per

AI, systems infrastructure, and Three Little Pigs

Covers how to plan to deploy MACH core systems

Note: The completion of the Ageas & esure transaction is expected to occur in 2H 2025 and remains subject to regulatory approvals.