Aviva CEO Says Insurance Sector in `Stone Age,' Needs Tech Deals

(Bloomberg) -- The insurance industry is “generally in the stone age,” and partnerships with technology companies are the way forward, according to Aviva Plc’s chief executive officer.

His company, the U.K.’s second-largest insurer, is working with Tesla on how to insure driverless vehicles, Mark Wilson said in an interview Monday with Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Surveillance. Aviva is also looking into artificial intelligence and big data, he said.

“The new future is partnerships,” Wilson said. “You need those skill sets, you need to blend them together.”

Aviva last year teamed up with Hillhouse Capital Management and Tencent Holdings Ltd. to develop a Hong Kong company focused on digital insurance. In his interview, Wilson said Aviva’s dividend will probably grow at a double-digit rate “for the foreseeable future.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Blackman in Berlin at ablackman@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net, Christian Baumgaertel, Jon Menon

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