Becoming “Approval‑Ready”
Most filing delays are self-inflicted; not by regulators, but by carriers submitting filings with missing pieces, unclear narratives, or outdated requirements. In prior-approval states, those slips don’t just slow things down; they can freeze millions in premium for months. That was the core message of ZestyAI’s recent webinar, Approval‑Ready: How Carriers and Regulators Can Accelerate Filings, featuring Carter Lawrence, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, and Bryan Rehor, Director of Regulatory Strategy at ZestyAI.
Watch the full session on demand here: Approval‑Ready: How Carriers and Regulators Can Accelerate Filings.
What regulators want from rate filings
Commissioner Lawrence opened with a simple reminder: regulators are people first, operating under clear statutory mandates but deeply focused on maintaining a healthy, competitive insurance market for the consumers they serve.
For carriers, that means relationships and preparation matter. He urged companies to proactively meet with departments, especially before submitting novel products or complex filings that benefit from early discussion.
Why filing delays cost insurers millions
From the carrier perspective, Bryan Rehor shared data from ZORRO Discover, ZestyAI’s agentic AI platform for competitive intelligence trained on hundreds of millions of pages of P&C filings, objection letters, and regulations. In prior‑approval states, ZORRO’s analysis shows that after the first objection, each additional objection typically adds about two months to the approval timeline, and incomplete responses can add another two to four months.
Those delays are often driven by preventable operational misses rather than disagreements over rate indications: missing actuarial exhibits, incomplete predictive model documentation, outdated checklists, procedural gaps, and under‑explained catastrophe assumptions. When ZestyAI’s team quantified the impact across lines, we estimated that delayed approvals translate into tens of millions of dollars per day in unrealized premium changes for the industry.
How ZestyAI’s ZORRO Discover helps carriers become approval‑ready
The panel converged on a key idea: the industry needs to move from reactive, objection‑driven workflows to proactive, intelligence‑driven ones. For regulators, that means using technology to reduce low‑value manual review so teams can focus on complex judgment calls; for carriers, it means embedding regulatory awareness and quality checks directly into rate filing workflows.
ZORRO Discover continuously ingests regulatory filings and related materials, so it flags gaps against current checklists, common objection themes, and emerging expectations in each state before a filing is submitted. Combined with ZestyAI’s regulator‑approved peril models and rate service organization capabilities, carriers can submit more transparent, thoroughly supported filings that earn trust and move faster through regulatory review.
FAQs: approval‑ready insurance filings and ZORRO Discover
What is ZORRO Discover from ZestyAI?
ZORRO Discover is ZestyAI’s agentic AI platform for competitive and regulatory intelligence in P&C. It analyzes 2M+ SERFF filings and related materials across all 50 states, turning millions of pages into real-time, citation-backed insights. For regulatory teams, it surfaces objection patterns and regulator expectations upfront, improving research efficiency by 20X. This helps teams run faster and more accurate pre-submission QA, draft cleaner filings, accelerate approvals, and reduce adverse selection.
How can insurance-specific AI reduce filing objections?
Agentic AI platforms for competitive intelligence, such as ZORRO Discover, scan millions of filings and related materials, including checklists, statutes, and historic objection letters. They help teams flag missing actuarial support, outdated checklists, weak justifications, and documentation gaps before submission. This “pre‑flight” QA reduces procedural errors that trigger avoidable objections and multi‑month delays.
How does ZestyAI help carriers be "approval-ready”?
ZestyAI helps carriers be approval-ready by strengthening both the models they file and the way those filings are prepared. Our peril models are filed through a Rate Service Organization (RSO) with standardized, regulator-tested documentation and a growing track record of approvals that carriers can reference as precedent. On the process side, ZORRO Discover provides pre-submission QA using regulatory objections and competitive insights. Together, this gives carriers more complete, regulator-aligned filings, fewer avoidable objections, and faster, more predictable approval timelines.
Why do prior‑approval states create unique challenges?
In prior‑approval states, rate and product changes cannot take effect until they are signed off by the Department of Insurance (DOI), so each objection round adds real financial cost as actuarially indicated changes sit idle. ZORRO Discover’s analysis shows that every additional objection can add months to the timeline, making operational quality and proactive compliance crucial levers for profitability.
How does ZestyAI support regulators and carriers at the same time?
ZestyAI reduces friction on both sides of the filing process by providing regulators with better documentation and helping carriers.
For regulators:
- Standardized, RSO-filed model documentation that’s easy to review.
- Regulatory precedent from prior approvals, reducing model-review burden.
- Clear, transparent methodology aligned with statutory expectations.
For carriers:
- Faster approvals by referencing ZestyAI’s existing model approvals.
- Fewer avoidable objections through ZORRO Discover’s QA and objection-pattern insights.
- More complete, regulator-aligned filings with clearer documentation and rationale.
Outcome:
Regulators receive fully documented, RSO-filed models that are easier to review and validate. Carriers benefit from two advantages:
- Clear insight into regulatory expectations to help them avoid common filing errors.
- The ability to reference ZestyAI’s existing model approvals, which provides regulatory precedent and helps their own filings move through review more quickly.
Together, this reduces avoidable objections and creates a more efficient, predictable approval process for both sides.
To hear directly from Commissioner Carter Lawrence and ZestyAI’s regulatory experts, watch the full webinar on demand: Approval‑Ready: How Carriers and Regulators Can Accelerate Filings
