The quantity of digital data has been growing exponentially during the last decades, and organizations from various line of businesses are seeking to find meaningful insights from the large sets of data to help their decision making. Insurance industry has exceptionally high potential in the usage of Big Data based on the special characteristics of the industry. Along with the potential, the challenges are also significant. In addition to the challenges caused by the basic nature of Big Data, some of the challenges are caused by the regulation regarding on the privacy of information, such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The goal of this thesis is to map out how the big data is used in the insurance industry, what is the potential of usage, and what are the main challenges of the usage. In addition, thesis strives to examine how the regulation regarding on the privacy of information influences the business of insurance companies. In addition to literature review, theme interview was conducted to interview experts of the topic. The current state of the Big Data usage on the insurance industry were clarified alongside with the fundamental challenges occurring in the utilization of Big Data. Also, the effects of the regulations regarding on the privacy of information were identified. The potential of the usage of Big Data is remarkable, but most of the expectations has not been met yet. The key challenges that were identified were related to properties and availability of Big Data, and resources needed in the utilization. The regulation of the privacy of information was perceived to be up-to-date and necessary in the data environment of today’s insurance business. The interviews revealed that insurance companies have a high need for the transparency of their data utilization, caused by the bad reputation of insurance business.