AXIS Insurance has become the latest carrier to enter the pet insurance market.

The Bermuda-based specialty insurer, a business segment of AXIS Capital Holdings, Ltd., joins the pet insurance market via its Accident and Health unit, though a strategic relationship with Managing General Underwriter Petplan. AXIS Insurance will provide underwriting capacity for comprehensive pet insurance policies for dogs and cats in the U.S. and Canada.

Petplan is the fourth largest MGU in the U.S. and Canada dedicated to pet insurance, providing insurance coverage to over 280,000 pets.

James Hamilton, Global Head of Accident and Health for AXIS Insurance, said the strategic relationship gives it “an exciting way” to enter the North American pet insurance marketplace. The initiative also compliments AXIS’s existing global Accident and Health portfolio, he said.

Customers will be able to access the insurance product via Petplan through an intuitive mobile experience. Petplan’s mobile platform is backed by machine learning capabilities designed to predict a pet’s health trajectory and provides customers with information aimed at improving pet wellness and decreasing vet care costs.

AXA’s jump into the pet insurance market follows similar moves by many other carriers in recent months and years.

Digital insurer Lemonade launched pet insurance in July 2020, and recently added to the cover a preventative care package designed for cats and dogs under two years old. Progressive added pet insurance coverage as a voluntary employer benefit in August 2020, by way of a partnership with Pets Best, a deal that expanded a long-standing partnership between the two that started with coverage for cats and dogs. The year before, Marsh and Zurich North America debuted a pet insurance program named TrustedPals initially targeted to cats and dogs.

At least one other pet insurer has also moved to expand. Trupanion, a Seattle-based medical insurer for cats and dogs, announced in June it would pursue an international expansion.

Source: AXIS Insurance