Published in Legal Today by Georgina García-Más Vélez, legal and legal mentor at Santalucía Impulsa

Legal Today, a portal for legal trends, has recently published a brief and brilliant reflection on Georgina García-Más Vélez, of the Department of Legal Advice in Santalucía Seguros, about the technological transformation of the legal, financial and insurance sector.Georgina perfectly addresses the emergence of disciplines such as Legaltech, Insurtech and Fintech. The fact is that, by collaborating first-hand with the technological and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the insurance world through her involvement as a legal mentor in the Santalucía Impulsa Open Innovation Program, has achieved a perfect understanding of the importance of digital and technological transformation for sectors such as insurance.

Reflections by Georgina García-Más Vélez on the technological transformation of the legal, financial and insurance sectors

In recent years it has become very fashionable to add the suffix —Tech to the different disciplines that want to modernize and make it clear that no matter how ancient they are, they adapt to the requirements that such modernization requires. Millennial, yes. Thus, for my part, Law is a sector whose first manifestations that we know of can be found in those Sumerian tables that go back more than 2,500 years BC. But not only has Law gone hand in hand with the evolution of civic management, but also law itself insurance sector And the financial sector.What is clear is that the security, whether it is legal certainty itself, or security against the unexpected, is a necessary qualification in our society. Certainly the seeking protection from uncertainty It is evident in any human relationship. In this sense, it is impossible for me not to quote Francisco Javier García Más, who has always defended that “Legal security is essential in every society. In the world of new technologies, this must not change at all, and they must be instruments at the service of citizens.. Trust is an essential element for their development and application. Jurists have an obligation to preserve the basic principles of our Legal System and to use new technologies at the service of citizens, with full respect for those principles”.There is a lot of talk about the transformation of these industries and I think that yes, that there is transformation, but in the sense that these sectors are in continuous change or adaptation to the new needs that social evolution is demanding, but which are basically driven by the same principles. Consequently, Legaltech, Fintech and Insurtech It is nothing more than the denomination that brings together all the new technologies and possible applications that are being developed so that they can help improve these sectors so that they can meet that transformation, so that they respond to the continuous needs that are manifested or, even, anticipating the needs that we are not yet aware that we have or are going to have. And what is the spark that helps this transformation or adaptation to current needs to take place? A fundamental role is played by those entrepreneurs who are committed to a possible solution to improve a certain aspect in some area of these sectors that we are talking about. Thus, the calls “startups” they are emerging companies that, by applying new technologies, seek to improve these processes with the vocation of being stable through their possibilities for growth and scalability. They are the best example of real innovation.This is why incubation and acceleration programs for startups are so important, so that they can be accompanied and enhanced their success. In my case, we are lucky in Santalucía to have the program”Santalucía Impulsa”, which represents the Open Entrepreneurship and Innovation ecosystem where different internal and external agents such as entrepreneurs, employees, mentors, university students and experts, learn, collaborate and work to create future value propositions for the Santalucía Group. And I, in particular, am fortunate to participate as a mentor. Well, it may have become more or less clear to us that technology is at the service of these sectors and that it can respond to the demands of transformation, a transformation that often occurs through innovation. Pero this transformation must maintain that security that we mentioned at the beginning. How do we achieve it? We usually talk about regulated sectors such as the bank or financial institution, and the insurer. Therefore, there are many regulations and institutions that at the national, European or even international levels ensure that these transformations and technological applications are carried out with the greatest possible caution. One of the best examples of finding a common point between innovation, new technologies, security and guarantees is found in the figure of “sandbox”, which can be understood as any technically and legally controlled environment for testing new solutions in different fields. The sector in which it has had the greatest application is the financial sector, where an attempt is made balance the birth of emerging models of economic transactions or the management of those own transactions, while always maintaining the level of protection that provides adequate guarantees.This evolution of the financial system and the emergence of Fintech, which has been the pioneering sector in being able to be an example of the fact that the union of the concepts of innovation and protection can go hand in hand, is a bit of the guide that the insurance sector and, in general, the rest of the sectors, follow and want to follow, where the Insurtech sees a feasible model of how to innovate, evolve and seek successful solutions both for courageous entrepreneurs and for those whose solutions are the answer to their needs.If you were interested in this extract, we provide you with the link to the full publication by Georgina García-Más Vélez in Legal Today on the technological transformation of the legal, financial and insurance sectors.