MetLife Xcelerator Qorus-NTT DATA Innovation in Insurance Awards 2026

Concept and Objectives

Latin America does not suffer from a lack of demand for insurance. It suffers from a lack of access.

Millions of people are banked, digitally connected, and financially active, yet remain uninsured because traditional insurance distribution requires customers to step outside their daily lives to search for protection. MetLife Xcelerator was created to change that paradigm.

Instead of asking customers to find insurance, we embed protection directly into the digital ecosystems where financial decisions already happen. Through partnerships with fintech platforms, e-commerce companies, mobility services, and digital marketplaces, insurance becomes a natural part of everyday digital journeys.

Customers can access protection without leaving the experiences they already trust, while partners can launch insurance offerings without building their own insurance infrastructure.

The objective of MetLife Xcelerator is to transform insurance distribution in Latin America by embedding protection at the exact moment it becomes relevant in people’s lives.

Reasons Behind

Insurance penetration across Latin America remains significantly below global averages. This gap is not primarily caused by lack of demand, but by limitations in traditional distribution models.

Customers increasingly live in digital ecosystems: mobile banking apps, e-commerce platforms, digital payments, and mobility services. However, insurance distribution still relies heavily on standalone sales channels that require customers to actively search for protection. MetLife Xcelerator was created to bridge this structural gap.

By embedding protection within the digital platforms customers already use, insurance becomes contextual, accessible, and frictionless. This model allows protection to appear exactly when it is most relevant to a customer’s life event or transaction.

The initiative aligns with MetLife’s broader strategy to expand access to financial protection and build new digital distribution capabilities in high-growth markets.

State of Competition

The embedded insurance landscape has evolved rapidly in recent years, with multiple players offering technological components such as APIs, distribution platforms, or digital policy administration tools.

However, many of these solutions address only a portion of the embedded insurance value chain.

MetLife Xcelerator differentiates itself by providing a complete end-to-end embedded insurance platform, integrating:

• insurance product portfolio

• platform infrastructure

• operational capabilities

• servicing and claims management

• data and intelligence layers

• regional scalability

This allows partners to integrate once and deploy insurance offerings across multiple markets in Latin America.

Unlike fragmented point solutions, this full-stack model enables sustainable scale, operational reliability, and consistent customer experience across different digital ecosystems.

Sources of Inspiration

The platform builds on global embedded finance trends where financial services are increasingly delivered within digital ecosystems rather than through standalone institutions.

Inspired by developments in fintech, platform economies, and digital commerce, MetLife Xcelerator adapts these models to the insurance industry and to the specific realities of Latin America’s digital transformation.

The initiative also reflects the growing importance of ecosystem-based partnerships, where companies collaborate to deliver integrated services that improve customer experiences and create new business opportunities.

Departments Involved

MetLife Xcelerator operates through a cross-functional collaboration model involving regional and local teams across Latin America.

Key functions involved include:

• Technology and engineering

• Product development

• Underwriting

• Claims operations

• Legal and compliance

• Risk management

• Customer experience

• Marketing and communications

• Operations

• Commercial and Growth

This cross-functional approach enables the platform to deliver embedded insurance solutions while maintaining enterprise-grade reliability and regulatory compliance.

Main Results So Far

MetLife Xcelerator has achieved significant scale across Latin America. The platform currently supports:

• 8.5 million active digital policies

• over $194 million USD in digital insurance sales

• $324 million USD in digital PFOs

• more than 30 digital partners integrated across the region

Partners include organizations across industries such as fintech, telecommunications, e-commerce, banking, and digital services.

In 2025 alone, nine new partners joined the platform, including Natura, Bradescard, Claro, Banco Estado, and Mercado Libre. Through these partnerships, insurance is delivered directly within digital experiences, expanding protection to customer segments that traditional distribution rarely reached.