UFCIC Becomes First U.S. Insurer to Accept Cryptocurrency for Premium Payments
Commercial surety is the company’s first digital currency-accessible line of business.
WATERFORD, Mich., June 22, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Universal Fire & Casualty Insurance Company (UFCIC), a multi-line admitted property and casualty (P&C) insurance company and insurtech innovator, is pleased to announce the company is now the first U.S. insurer to accept cryptocurrency for premium payments.
Based near Detroit, UFCIC writes traditional P&C lines of business, including commercial property, general liability, inland marine, business owners’ policies (BOP), and commercial surety, and provides insurance solutions to small business owners throughout the U.S. Looking to increase the company’s competitive market position, John Lucker, EVP, chief strategy and analytics officer, and other UFCIC executives, turned to technology for an innovative advantage.
“Early in the development of UFCIC’s innovation plan it became evident that the use of crypto for mainstream customer insurance transactions was not a matter of if, but when,” said Lucker. “When we implemented our new direct online surety bond portal, cryptocurrency was a way to provide our customers with a broader and flexible array of convenient payment options that the marketplace is demanding.”
Today, UFCIC accepts a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin, for premium payments for direct online license and permit bonds and other surety bond products. And, UFCIC’s customer payment transaction process is seamless through the portal with the monetary exchange facilitated automatically by UFCIC’s payment processor.
“The rollout of our new web-based direct surety platform, ufcbonds.com, enables customers to pay for surety bonds via ACH, credit card, and cryptocurrency,” said Rick Klimaszewski, president, COO, and general manager of UFCIC’s surety bond business. “While we are proud to be the first U.S. insurer to offer this capability, we aren’t sitting still. Going forward, we will continue expanding the menu of cryptocurrency options available for premium payment and customer convenience.”
Commercial lines P&C insurance is intensely competitive. As a result, UFCIC will continue to introduce and utilize a multi-pronged approach to operate at the forefront of the insurance marketplace and product innovation. UFCIC combines strategy and product differentiation, ease of doing business, customer service excellence, and cutting edge technology, all key markers of leading insurtechs, to deliver a quality customer experience and speed-to-market.
“UFCIC is uniquely propelling itself forward as a multi-line, multi-product insurer by embracing innovative technologies, highly-responsive distribution options and customer service portals, unique product positioning, and advanced analytics leveraging predictive models, artificial intelligence (AI), and Big Data resources,” said Chris Timm, chief executive officer for UFCIC.
About UFCIC
Universal Fire & Casualty Insurance Company, founded in 2003, is a multiline admitted commercial lines property and casualty insurance company with primary offices in Waterford, Michigan and Columbus, Ohio. Guided by an entrepreneurial spirit, UFCIC provides innovative commercial insurance solutions to underserved small business commercial markets. We design our products intuitively and platform agnostic to accelerate high quality competitive underwriting decisions to our partners and customers. For more information, please visit www.ufcic.com.
Media Contact:
Jennifer Overhulse
St. Nick Media Services
859-803-6597 or jen@stnickmedia.com
SOURCE: UFCIC
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