Streamline Insurance Payments | Dwolla

As an insurance or insurtech company, optimizing, streamlining and enhancing reimbursement payments is critical to providing a positive policyholder and client experience. With more and more companies leaning into digital transformation, implementing a digital payment solution will enhance business operations and improve cash flow and payment predictability. 

Digital Transformation in Insurance: Why Now

Policyholders crave digital convenience and faster reimbursements. The companies that meet this demand are gaining a competitive edge.

The proof is in the data:

• More than one-quarter of policyholders switch providers to achieve faster payouts.
• 78% of insurance customers now manage their policies online.
• 65% of millennials and Gen Z policyholders expect instant payment options through mobile apps.
• The global digital payments market is projected to reach a staggering $60.8 trillion by 2027, a 47% increase from 2023.

Digital transformation in insurance payments isn't optional – it's survival. Major pain points plague the insurance industry, sparking a need for immediate change.

• Outdated payment methods and manual processes slow down insurance payments, increase the likelihood of human error and cost significant time and money.
• Costly fraud incidents and security breaches damage company reputations and result in a lack of trust from policyholders or clients.
• Slow claim payments and poor payment experiences lead to policyholder attrition.

Businesses stuck in legacy payment systems risk not only falling behind but missing out on critical market share and competitive advantages.

Meet Dwolla

Dwolla enables insurance companies and insurtech platforms to digitally transform their payments and optimize their operations. This solution replaces legacy payment methods and manual processes with account-to-account (A2A) payments (also known as pay by bank payments) and automation, drastically reducing the time and cost of payments.

With Dwolla, businesses gain:

• Increased payment speed and predictability

• Higher confidence in payment security

• Improved policyholder experience and retention

Dwolla’s bank-agnostic approach means insurance organizations can initiate payments by leveraging their existing commercial accounts at top US banks. Dwolla simplifies A2A payments, allowing businesses to send and receive payments directly from bank accounts through one simple API that streamlines processes and provides a combined view of financial activity. 

Simplified integration with a single API enables insurance companies and insurtech platforms to quickly and easily implement a seamless payments experience. As a business grows, Dwolla adapts to the organization’s needs, scaling to process hundreds or thousands of payments daily.

Dwolla simplifies payment operations, reduces errors and improves efficiencies by providing a unified view of payment activity across multiple channels and banking partners. Equipping businesses with real-time data allows them to make informed decisions and refine cash flow management and strategic financial planning.

Dwolla safeguards policyholder and client data through enterprise-grade security features, such as encryption and tokenization, that protect sensitive information. Ultimately, Dwolla replaces outdated systems and creates an improved policyholder and client experience, directly impacting business performance, cash flow and payment predictability.

Integrating Dwolla

Leveraging a RESTful API and intuitive SDKs, Dwolla empowers developers to effortlessly integrate secure A2A payments into their insurance applications. They can use the insurer’s current banking relationships, maintain a branded payment experience and enjoy the benefits of a fast, efficient, flexible and scalable solution. Whether the insurer is leading a digital transformation, scaling their business or simply seeking better policyholder interactions, Dwolla has you covered.

Here’s the flow:

• Direct FI connections: Dwolla handles the heavy lifting, working directly with financial institutions to initiate payments on an insurer’s behalf. No need to manage the complexities involved in integrating with banking partners.
• New policyholder sign-up: This process begins when new policyholders sign up for insurance policies and provide their bank account information to authorize and set up automatic payments. 
• Automated payment flows: Each month, insurers initiate transfer requests to push/pull funds between their existing commercial bank account and the policyholder’s bank account through Dwolla’s API. Once received, Dwolla shares payment instructions for the transfer request with the financial institution that holds the business’ commercial account. This information allows the financial institution to push or pull funds between the commercial bank account and the policyholder's bank account, crediting or debiting the business’ commercial account for the appropriate transaction amount. 
• Real-time updates: The financial institution notifies Dwolla, and Dwolla passes automated webhook notifications back to the insurer, providing them with updates on the payment status. 

A major benefit of implementing with Dwolla is that insurers can avoid potentially expensive and time-consuming bank switches through this process. This not only cuts down on integration time, but managing a single API instead of multiple bank APIs streamlines the maintenance of integrations, opening the door for businesses to add new banking partners and payment methods in the future.

As a modern solution for the insurance space, Dwolla provides a flexible, secure and reliable approach for companies navigating policyholder expectations, financial institution partners and rapidly evolving technology. Through Dwolla’s ease of use and integration, insurers and technology platforms can confidently modernize their payment processes and operations to eliminate legacy systems and improve cash flow and payment predictability. 

Ready to get started? Schedule a call with a payments expert today.