Generic pre-trained neural networks may struggle to produce good results in specialized domains like finance and insurance. This is due to a domain mismatch between training data and downstream tasks, as in-domain data are often scarce due to privacy constraints. In this work, we compare different pre-training strategies for LayoutLM. We show that using domain-relevant documents improves results on a named-entity recognition (NER) problem using a novel dataset of anonymized insurance-related financial documents called Payslips. Moreover, we show that we can achieve competitive results using a smaller and faster model.

The development of Machine Learning is experiencing growing interest from the general public, and in recent years there have been numerous press articles questioning its objectivity: racism, sexism, \dots Driven by the growing attention of regulators on the ethical use of data in insurance, the actuarial community must rethink pricing and risk selection practices for fairer insurance. Equity is a philosophy concept that has many different definitions in every jurisdiction that influence each other without currently reaching consensus. In Europe, the Charter of Fundamental Rights defines guidelines on discrimination, and the use of sensitive personal data in algorithms is regulated. If the simple removal of the protected variables prevents any so-called `direct' discrimination, models are still able to `indirectly' discriminate between individuals thanks to latent interactions between variables, which bring better performance (and therefore a better quantification of risk, segmentation of prices, and so on). After introducing the key concepts related to discrimination, we illustrate the complexity of quantifying them. We then propose an innovative method, not yet met in the literature, to reduce the risks of indirect discrimination thanks to mathematical concepts of linear algebra. This technique is illustrated in a concrete case of risk selection in life insurance, demonstrating its simplicity of use and its promising performance.

Text is the most widely used means of communication today. This data is abundant but nevertheless complex to exploit within algorithms. For years, scientists have been trying to implement different techniques that enable computers to replicate some mechanisms of human reading. During the past five years, research disrupted the capacity of the algorithms to unleash the value of text data. It brings today, many opportunities for the insurance industry.Understanding those methods and, above all, knowing how to apply them is a major challenge and key to unleash the value of text data that have been stored for many years. Processing language with computer brings many new opportunities especially in the insurance sector where reports are central in the information used by insurers. SCOR's Data Analytics team has been working on the implementation of innovative tools or products that enable the use of the latest research on text analysis. Understanding text mining techniques in insurance enhances the monitoring of the underwritten risks and many processes that finally benefit policyholders.This article proposes to explain opportunities that Natural Language Processing (NLP) are providing to insurance. It details different methods used today in practice traces back the story of them. We also illustrate the implementation of certain methods using open source libraries and python codes that we have developed to facilitate the use of these techniques.After giving a general overview on the evolution of text mining during the past few years,we share about how to conduct a full study with text mining and share some examples to serve those models into insurance products or services. Finally, we explained in more details every step that composes a Natural Language Processing study to ensure the reader can have a deep understanding on the implementation.

Since May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has introduced new obligations to industries. By setting a legal framework, it notably imposes strong transparency on the use of personal data. Thus, people must be informed of the use of their data and must consent the usage of it. Data is the raw material of many models which today make it possible to increase the quality and performance of digital services. Transparency on the use of data also requires a good understanding of its use through different models. The use of models, even if efficient, must be accompanied by an understanding at all levels of the process that transform data (upstream and downstream of a model), thus making it possible to define the relationships between the individual's data and the choice that an algorithm could make based on the analysis of the latter. (For example, the recommendation of one product or one promotional offer or an insurance rate representative of the risk.) Models users must ensure that models do not discriminate against and that it is also possible to explain its result. The widening of the panel of predictive algorithms - made possible by the evolution of computing capacities -- leads scientists to be vigilant about the use of models and to consider new tools to better understand the decisions deduced from them . Recently, the community has been particularly active on model transparency with a marked intensification of publications over the past three years. The increasingly frequent use of more complex algorithms (\textit{deep learning}, Xgboost, etc.) presenting attractive performances is undoubtedly one of the causes of this interest. This article thus presents an inventory of methods of interpreting models and their uses in an insurance context.