Franklin Mutual Insurance Boosts Underwriting with AI-Powered Aerial Imagery

Franklin Mutual Insurance Group (FMI), a property and casualty insurer, has integrated Nearmap's Betterview platform to enhance underwriting accuracy and operational efficiency. By leveraging high-resolution aerial imagery and AI-driven property insights, FMI aims to accelerate and improve the precision of its property inspections and underwriting decisions. This integration provides timely, location-specific data that helps identify high-risk properties and reduces the need for unnecessary field inspections.

Since adopting the Betterview platform, FMI has analyzed over 75,000 insurance policies, identifying exposures such as roofless barns and abandoned vehicles that traditional in-person inspections might have overlooked. The use of aerial imagery allows underwriters to access previously unavailable information, supporting more consistent and informed risk assessments.

Matthew McCauley, FMI’s Vice President of Underwriting, highlighted that the platform enables quick visualization of property conditions and targeted allocation of inspection resources, leading to enhanced underwriting efficiency. FMI anticipates that this technological shift will lower operational costs and facilitate the company's expansion into new states.

Future plans include expanding the use of Betterview to incorporate additional data layers, such as roof age, and extending its application into commercial insurance lines. Nearmap's Chief Product Officer, David Tobias, emphasized that FMI's adoption exemplifies how insurers can leverage aerial imagery and AI to deliver improved protection and value to policyholders.

This strategic move aligns with industry trends emphasizing data-driven underwriting and operational optimization through AI and advanced imaging technologies. The integration of Betterview supports compliance by improving the accuracy of risk evaluation while potentially reducing manual inspection workloads. FMI's approach reflects the growing use of geospatial data and AI in insurer workflows to enhance decision-making and cost control.