32 The data dilemma Data underpins the activities of insurance companies, and many InsurTech ventures are predicated on their ability to exploit data. However, information sharing is uncomfortable for insurers, particularly where projects may be short-lived PoCs. They fear breaches that could lead to legal or regulatory sanc- tion, as well as significant reputation damage. In PwC research, 63% of insurers highlighted data security, privacy and protection as one of their biggest barriers to innovation, higher than the 54% recorded across the financial services industry as a whole. InsurTechs are simply unlikely to have the data security accreditations insurers require as a 12 minimum standard when working with partners. Moreover, regulatory concerns are likely to increase, when the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force in May 2018, imposing greater responsibilities on all organisations that hold personal data – as well as much larger fines for failures. Still, changes such as the GDPR can also be seen as an opportunity to engage more positively with consumers. PORT, for example, is a start-up that aims to make it easier for businesses to comply with the GDPR using tools that enable practical compliance; in the longer term, it hopes to facilitate an infor- mation-sharing process where consumers can see how they are benefitting from allowing access to their data while also maintaining control. Such examples provide an important lesson: if more businesses can find a way to overcome their data challenges, the value on offer is huge. 12 PwC, FinTech Survey, 2017