What is Hannover Life Re of Australasia (HLR Aus) doing?

HLR Aus applies our entrepreneurial spirit to turn ideas into operational solutions that address real business challenges. We concentrate on opportunities that help clients succeed through (re)insurance solutions, scaling ideas where they make sense, and investing in carefully selected, high-impact themes that deliver measurable results.

We follow these guiding principles:

Innovation guiding principles

We have also developed and implemented an AI governance policy, providing appropriate guardrails to ensure the effective use of AI tools. The policy ensures:

• The safety and security of all information
• Fair treatment of individuals and respect for their rights
• Full transparency in usage, along with accountability and explainability for all decisions made

Some examples of Focused Innovation in action

We have been actively working on multiple pieces of focused innovation at HLR Aus, as well as globally across the entire Hannover Re Group. Below are just two recent examples of focused innovation in action in the Australian office:

1. Electronic Health Records

Many customers with complex medical risks have difficulty obtaining life insurance cover in the Direct to Customer (DTC) channel due to lack of objective information or test results to help accurately underwrite their risks. In the claims space, information obtained from GPs through traditional claims forms are often low quality with many 'back-and-forth' engagements that result in undesirable delays. In 2024 and 2025, HLR Aus partnered with Konnect NET, part of the Lanas (previously Clanwilliam) healthcare technology group. We conducted pilots to assess the practical application of using electronic health records, via linkage to GP practice management systems, in both underwriting and claims, to determine whether data quality could improve outcomes, and test consumer and GP appetites regarding the use of a process involving the electronic transfer of personal health data.

In the underwriting pilot, our team were able to prove that by using electronic health records, along with structured health summaries embedded with reflexive questions to the GP, more Australian customers could gain access to life insurance through a DTC channel – a solution that may be scaled wider into other global markets. The pilot also showed that the performance and productivity of a general underwriting process can be improved, with GP practices using the system typically responding more quickly, and reporting that time to complete a request reduced by over 40%.

The underwriting pilot was the first use of electronic health records in a live production environment and won the Innovation category at the 2025 ALUCA Life Insurance Excellence Awards.

During 2025, the claims pilot was undertaken to evaluate the benefits of digitising Progress Medical Reports submitted by medical providers. The pilot wrapped up at the end of 2025 and found that GP participation was lower in a claims setting, however the quality of data attained was high.

Interested in more?

• Read the August 2025 ReCent Perspectives interview, featuring Dr Monique Esterhuizen, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Medical & Health Services, discussing Electronic Health Records. Click here
• Listen to the January 2026 RePlay by Hannover Re podcast, featuring Dr Monique Esterhuizen, sharing practical examples and pilot learnings on how Electronic Health Records improve risk management, claims efficiency and automation. Click here

2. AI Medical Document Summarisation

Underwriters, claims assessors and medical officers know all too well the time it can take to review lengthy medical documents when underwriting an application or assessing a claim. The page count on these documents can often number in the thousands, and sorting through pages to find relevant information can be like finding a needle in a haystack.

In 2025, a mini assessment was conducted across three external specialised document summarisation tools, plus one internally available generic tool to determine whether an AI tool could be used to improve efficiencies while maintaining medical assessment capabilities at the same standard. Real-world underwriting cases were used to test tool performance and simplify complex documents.

In particular, our team looked at the ability of each tool to identify and flag relevant risk information into a summary page. They also assessed the accuracy of the information and the ease of accessing the source information; whether any false positive findings (hallucinations) or false negative findings occurred; and their capabilities in presenting summarised information in visually effective ways (for example graphs, trend or timelines).

The assessment found that the three vendor tools all had differing strengths and weaknesses, with the generically available tool being less developed in its ability to summarise medical documents. The chart below outlines the results we found from the three vendor tools across the different criteria we considered, as well as the results from using traditional human resources.

Average performance scores across vendors stratified by criteria

What’s coming in 2026… AI to improve the claims assessment process – can it be done?

In 2026, the HLR Aus team is embarking on a new proof of value exploration exercise – to see whether the AI tools currently used in general insurance claims assessment can be repurposed in a life insurance setting. Rather than rely on multiple tools, the tool we are looking at has the ability to combine document summarisation functionality with claims assessment and data analysis. We’re very excited to see how this project goes and will share our findings on this initiative and others later in the year.

What’s going to be important for insurers in 2026 and 2027?

Staff awareness and training is going to be key. Because new tools will fundamentally change the way we approach our work, deliberate literacy and skills programs will be vital to get any kind of innovation off the ground. Staff need to unlearn the ways they approach everyday work and relearn in the context of AI.

It will be important to create safe spaces and use cases for staff to experiment with AI tools, and for senior staff to lead from the front by visibly using new tools. Starting small with low-risk tasks is a good way to build confidence before exploring the use of new tools for more complex processes.

Clear communication around the fact that AI is a tool designed to support – not substitute, our people will also be important to help with adoption. Showing staff how it can handle repetitive tasks in the background, while freeing them up to concentrate on the deeper, more impactful work that only humans can perform will be helpful.

Governance must be front of mind and well understood. Having guardrails that are well understood by staff will be vital to ensure mistakes aren’t made that undermine business or customer outcomes. As with any system, AI tools must be appropriate to the setting and well tested before being broadly used.

Data quality is the ticket to the game. Data is a key enabler to the implementation of new tools, and the level of an organisation’s data quality can make or break their ability to implement them.

Finally, take an iterative approach. Be willing to experiment (safely) with new tools. By trialling some of the new tools out there, organisations can build knowledge for the future. Even a pilot that finds an AI tool is not appropriate or ready to be used in a particular life insurance setting is still a successful pilot if the organisation increases their knowledge and awareness about the topic.

We’re excited to keep sharing what we’re learning on our innovation journey here at HLR Aus.