COLLABORATION Under covered: Consumers in Southeast Asia are among the least likely to hold insurance
DBS was the first of Chubb’s banking partners in Southeast Asia to open Chubb Studio’s ‘insurance in a box’. Pearlyn Phau explains why it came at just the right moment Banking now and into the future is no longer a go-it-alone venture, says Pearlyn Phau, group head of consumer banking products, marketing and ecosystem partnerships at DBS. The largest and one of the most exciting banks in Southeast Asia, with more than 11 million customers and 29,000 employees, it has recently been crowned the world’s best digital bank for the second time and the world’s best bank for the third
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TheInsurtechMagazine | Issue 5
time by Euromoney and Global Finance respectively. It’s earned those impressive mantles by delivering best-in-class customer experience and groundbreaking digital products, notably its mobile wallet PayLah!, which was released way ahead of its time in 2014 and now has more than 1.8 million users. You’d think that it would be big enough to stand on its own two, well-planted digital feet. But, according to Phau, if DBS and banks like it are to keep their foothold as a new type of competitor shakes the financial tree, they need allies. Global insurance provider Chubb is one of them. The two giants entered a 15-year partnership covering Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, in 2018, bringing together two companies who have strength in their respective areas. Chubb, being a world-leading general insurance company, was able to bring to the table a full suite of
comprehensive products, while DBS had its extensive distribution network, and the digital capabilities it has been building over the past 10 years. “The important thing, though,” says Phau, “is having a common view towards digitisation of the insurance journey, which facilitates quicker, more contextual offerings for our joint customers.”
THE DIGITAL IMPERATIVE In the white-hot cauldron of the Asia Pacific market, constant innovation is a necessity for banks to both retain and grow customer bases. A survey in early 2020 by Finder.com revealed an estimated 980,000 Singaporeans, approximately 20 per cent of the adult population, have accounts with digital-only banks, with 488,000 more planning to open a digital account in the next five years. Competition for that business has just www.fintechf.com