Piper Sandler Companies' stock plummeted 5.15% during intraday trading on Tuesday, reflecting broader market concerns about artificial intelligence disruption in the financial services and insurance sectors.
The decline follows the release of an AI-powered comparison tool by online insurance platform Insurify, built on ChatGPT technology, which sparked fears of industry disruption. This development previously caused a 3.9% drop in the S&P 500 insurance index and significant declines for other insurance brokers earlier in the week.
While Piper Sandler analysts described the situation as a "potential buying opportunity for the insurance brokers," noting that AI will make processes easier and cheaper but won't significantly shift market share due to market maturity and regulation, investors appeared concerned about the broader implications for financial services firms exposed to the insurance industry.