IB Asia 5-Star Insurance Innovators 2021

SPECIAL REPORT

INSURANCE INNOVATORS 2021

Insurance Business Asia recognises 24 organisations that are bringing a wave of fresh ideas to the insurance industry

CONTENTS

PAGE

Feature article .............................................. 2 Methodology ................................................ 3 5-Star Insurance Innovators ...................... 5 Profiles .......................................................... 6

www.insurancebusinessmag.com/asia

1

SPECIAL REPORT BUSINESS STRATEGY

5-STAR INSURANCE INNOVATORS

DRIVING INNOVATION IN A DIFFICULT YEAR IN A YEAR of unprecedented change around the world, the insurance industry has been hard at work developing a slew of new innovations. From insurance products focused on airline bookings to AI-based underwriting capabilities and the use of drones to assess property damage, companies across the industry have risen to the challenge of finding new ways to do business.

For some companies, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated technological innovations already underway. For others, it propelled new products – before 2020, who would have foreseen the need for ‘COVID cover’ insurance to protect consumers or airline insurance in case a traveller contracts a virus during a journey?

There were also major strides in the adoption of AI and machine learning to

“Everything in the insurance industry froze as insurers had to pivot to respond to a slew of new issues regarding not just their product offerings, but also working from home and the larger issue of the economic impacts of the pandemic” Manuel San Miguel, Ignatica assist in the underwriting of insurance products, from driver behaviour data for transport cover to personalised risk profiles for health insurance.

The 24 companies that made Insurance Business Asia’s inaugural 5-Star Insurance

THE 5-STAR INSURANCE INNOVATORS BY COMPANY SIZE Fewer than 10 employees

8% 10 to 25 employees

8% 26 to 100 employees

29% 101 to 500 employees

21% 500+ employees

33%

2

www.insurancebusinessmag.com/asia

Innovators list have all acknowledged the difficulties facing the insurance industry and created new ways to overcome them, often building their business as a result.

Responding to the pandemic The ongoing strain of COVID-19 has been at the forefront of the challenges confronting the industry over the past year.

“Beginning in February of 2020, everything in the insurance industry froze as insurers had to pivot to respond to a slew of new issues regarding not just their product offerings, such as workers’ insurance, travel, and health insurance plans, but also working from home and the larger issue of the economic impacts of the pandemic,” says Manuel San Miguel, co-founder and CEO of Ignatica.

Andrew Fluitsma, CEO of Honan Insurance Group, agrees that “the COVID-19 pandemic was something we have not seen in our lifetimes. Total shutdown and forced

working-from-home conditions had an immediate impact on our team, our clients and our communities. It created shortages and delays in logistics, communications, data and information sharing.”

Honan turned to technology to drive engagement across its global staff, and also sought ideas from outside the insurance industry to prompt change.

“Instead of talking monthly or bi-monthly, conversations and presentations could be done weekly,” Fluitsma says. “Bi-weekly company-wide town halls made the business smaller and bought staff closer together, keeping the whole business up to date.”

This not only built internal engagement, but also contributed to a 25% rise in the brokerage’s business.

“By leading the way with new tools, systems and approaches to work, it allows us to drive new solutions to clients and ensure we continue to add value and efficiencies to their businesses,” Fluitsma says. “We consist-

through supporting Olympic athletes with the product whilst flying on [Japan Airlines] to compete at the Olympic Games,” says Allianz Partners’ Ben Elliott-Yates.

Other companies also introduced coverage for COVID-19. Cover Growth worked with Skyscanner to provide COVID-19 insurance with no exclusions, while Digit Insurance created a group COVID-19 product designed to insure workers across several industries, including entertainment, production houses, financial institutions and hospitals.

According to Tanya Marwah, brand marketing head at Digit Insurance, the coverage responded to the most affected sections of the Indian economy that were not able to function fully due to virus concerns and has “covered over 2.5 million lives and 24,000 groups”.

Other companies sought to accelerate the industry’s transition into a digital world.

Charlotte Lau, director of market development for Asia at Crawford & Company,

“Our talented people leverage many technologies and innovations to help make decisions and guide each claim along to resolution, all ensuring that they can work off-site and meet client expectations” Charlotte Lau, Crawford & Company

ently see our innovations drive efficiencies through data sharing and deliver insights that aid business decisions through analytics and reporting.”

Allianz Partners responded to the pandemic by launching a new product, COVID Travel Protection, to support airline travellers.

Funded by the airlines, it covered medical and other costs for customers who tested positive for the virus or had to quarantine.

“Considerable success was achieved

says the pandemic forced the global claims manager to think creatively about using new technologies.

“Our talented people leverage many technologies and innovations to help make decisions and guide each claim along to resolution, all ensuring that they can work off-site and meet client expectations,” Lau says. “With the pandemic imposing restrictions and forcing face-to-face contact to a minimum, we have leveraged our unique

METHODOLOGY Insurance Business Asia’s 5-Star Insurance Innovators report recognises the companies that are moving the insurance industry forward, whether by introducing new technology or rolling out a groundbreaking product or distribution channel strategy.

Starting in July, IB Asia invited insurers, brokerages and service providers across the region to submit a nomination, detailing the steps they’ve taken to introduce new innovations to the insurance industry.

Companies were encouraged to focus on initiatives introduced and results achieved in 2020.

The IB Asia team objectively assessed each entry for detailed information, true innovation and proven success – along with benchmarking against the other entries – to determine the 24 5-Star Insurance Innovators.

13% Percentage of 5-Star Insurance Innovators that operate globally

17% Percentage of 5-Star Insurance Innovators that operate across Asia

33% Percentage of 5-Star Insurance Innovators based in Singapore

www.insurancebusinessmag.com/asia

3

SPECIAL REPORT BUSINESS STRATEGY

5-STAR INSURANCE INNOVATORS

HOW LONG HAVE THE 5-STAR INSURANCE INNOVATORS BEEN AROUND?

25%

50+ years

38%

Fewer than five years

8%

11 to 50 years

29%

Five to 10 years

“The insurance industry is very data-heavy, and so it is vital to ensure there are innovative tools available to provide insights to staff and clients in order to aid with decision-making” Andrew Fluitsma, Honan Insurance Group

claims management solutions to ensure we are still delivering the same quality of service.

“The changes other companies have made have focused too on providing a remote service. However, with our proprietary remote claims management tools, unique managed repair network and groundbreaking BI tools, Crawford has ensured that it is head and shoulders above the rest in its pandemic response.”

The wave of the future Insurance companies also continue to challenge the status quo on other major social and economic issues such as climate change.

Swiss Re Corporate Solutions was named a 4

www.insurancebusinessmag.com/asia

5-Star Insurance Innovator for its Climate Risk Solutions for Corporates service, which addresses the impact of extreme weather and climate events.

Alex Pui, Swiss Re’s APAC nat cat and sustainability head, says clients from the UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia were each faced with a range of physical climate risk challenges, from floods and storms to bushfires. Swiss Re’s Climate Risk Solutions for Corporates enabled customers to determine how they could enhance their business strategy for the long term through actionable business insights.

“Our solution leverages the collective internal group risk knowledge from negoti-

ating climate risk for over 100 years and is delivered through a combination of state-ofthe-art technology/tools, as well as through the sharing of risk insights by our climate and industry experts,” Pui says. “As there is a need to work with large data sets, we applied creative use of data to host on an intuitive tool platform, allowing customers to assess their risk exposures in the long term.”

Technology is set to usher in a range of other advancements – including the use of AI, deep learning and robotics – as insurance organisations negotiate a post-COVID world throughout the 2020s. And it’s already propelling many of the key advances put forth by the 5-Star Insurance Innovators.

As part of its mission to reduce road deaths in Cambodia, DRVR created a smartphone app to assess driver behaviour for fleet managers, as well as Internet of Things sensors and devices across its platforms for cold storage and fuel monitoring.

Howden Group launched a new data, digital and analytics division, HX Asia, that is providing analytics-led solutions, including information dashboards, to assist with medical claims management.

And global firm Merlynn is using AI and predictive analytics to monitor and analyse financial transactions for money laundering risk. Its Alert Decision Engine analyses accounts in real time to create alerts and screen false positives. This reduces the risk of non-compliance and financial crimes, while also increasing the efficiency of the compliance professionals conducting the checks.

Fluitsma highlights the importance of using technology to aid decision-making in insurance.

“The insurance industry is very dataheavy, and so it is vital to ensure there are innovative tools available to provide insights to staff and clients in order to aid with decision-making,” he says. “System inter­ operability drives collaboration and reduces data duplication. This is an area we have focused on in recent years, and it allows for strong differentiation to ensure clients understand the value a broker can deliver.”

INSURANCE INNOVATORS 2021

bolttech

Swiss Re Corporate Solutions

Email: enquiries@bolttech.io Website: bolttech.io

Phone: +65 6428 1809 Email: elisa_bakri@swissre.com Website: corporatesolutions.swissre.com

Crawford & Company Etiqa Insurance Phone: +65 6632 8699 Email: arne.eisfeld@crawford.asia Website: crawco.com

Honan Insurance Group

Howden Broking Group Aditya Birla Health Insurance Ignatica AIA Group Lifepal Allianz Partners Merlynn Cover Genius MyDoc CoverGo Smartchoice.pk Democrance

DigiSure

Digit Insurance

DRVR

Surer

Symbo

YAS MicroInsurance

Yoors

www.insurancebusinessmag.com/asia

5

SPECIAL REPORT BUSINESS STRATEGY

5-STAR INSURANCE INNOVATORS

Rob Schimek, group chief executive officer

BOLTTECH Email: enquiries@bolttech.io Website: bolttech.io

A

high-growth international insurtech, bolttech is on a mission to become the world’s leading technologyenabled ecosystem connecting insurers, distribution partners and customers. The bolttech brand and global group was launched in April 2020 and has now achieved unicorn status, with a reach extending to 26 markets across North America, Europe and Asia.

Born amid the chaos of COVID-19, bolttech’s B2B2C digital insurance ecosystem model is transforming the way insurance is bought and sold. The company has worked to digitise the insurance sales process, seamlessly connecting product providers to new distribution channels and providing this network of participants with more choice, convenience and access to insurance solutions.

At the heart of the ecosystem is bolttech’s insurance exchange, the world’s largest platform of its kind, which boasts more than 150 insurers offering over 5,000 products and transacting US$5bn in premiums.

Powered by bolttech’s proprietary technology, the flexible, cloud-based platform enables bolttech’s partners in Asia to offer a

6

www.insurancebusinessmag.com/asia

range of contextually relevant insurance and protection products within their existing customer journeys, unlocking additional value for partners while creating the seamless purchase experience customers want.

One such partner is Rabbit LINE Pay in Thailand. The bolttech insurance exchange enabled Rabbit LINE Pay to diversify and offer its very own insurance distribution channel – without high capital or underwriting risks.

With just a few clicks on the app, users can now search and compare a wide range of insurance products from several insurance brands and be insured in five minutes or less.

Other partners include e-wallet PayMaya in the Philippines; Samsung Care+ in seven markets in Asia, including Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan; telecommunication carrier LG U+ in South Korea; and Lazada in Thailand.

With several licences in key Asian markets, bolttech knows how to navigate the insurance and regulatory environments across the region. And unlike its competitors, bolttech has created a full end-to-end ecosystem that

facilitates insurance distribution – whether online, offline or hybrid go-to-market – for any kind of business. Its exchange is complemented by its own insurance and protection products; the team’s underwriting, brokerage and reinsurance capabilities; and bolttech’s proprietary SaaS technology.

Moving forward, bolttech intends to continue to grow its geographical footprint and the size of its ecosystem by partnering with new insurers and distribution partners.

Through these partnerships, it aims to meet underserved customer needs and improve insurance penetration around the world.

BOLTTECH AT A GLANCE

2020

Year founded

1,400

Number of employees

26

Markets served

CRAWFORD & COMPANY Phone: +65 6632 8699 Email: arne.eisfeld@crawford.asia Website: crawco.com

C

rawford & Company is the world’s largest publicly listed independent provider of claims management solutions, with an expansive global network serving clients in more than 70 countries, including the Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore.

With COVID-19 significantly impacting the global business landscape, Crawford has established new services and heavily invested in technology to continue to support its clients throughout this uncertain and difficult time. Amid restrictions that limited face-to-face interactions, Crawford’s unique claims management solutions enabled the company to deliver consistent quality of service, 24/7, through multiple channels, including online, email, phone or via custom ordering platform.

Crawford has also introduced pre-screening protocols to evaluate the risk of coronavirus exposure at any claim site and factor that risk into the decision-making process.

Through innovations such as YouGoLook and video reporting tools, Crawford has been able to manage, inspect and adjudicate claims remotely. The company also integrated new technologies into its operations – including mobile apps, smart IoT, wearables, drones, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, blockchain, telematics, 3D imaging and predictive analytics – to constantly stay ahead of its peers and provide the best service to its clients.

When paired with Crawford’s experienced desk-adjusting operation, these innovations enable the company to provide end-toend remote claims management that is faster, safer and less costly than traditional adjusting services.

SWISS RE CORPORATE SOLUTIONS Phone: +65 6428 1809 Email: elisa_bakri@swissre.com Website: corporatesolutions.swissre.com

S

wiss Re Corporate Solutions provides risk transfer solutions to large and mid-sized corporations around the world. Its innovative, highly customised products and standard insurance covers help to make businesses more resilient, while its industry-leading claims service provides additional peace of mind.

Swiss Re Corporate Solutions serves clients from offices worldwide and is backed by the financial strength of the Swiss Re Group.

Swiss Re Corporate Solutions has stayed true to its mission of making the world more resilient with the launch of its Climate Risk Solutions for Corporates (CRS) service. CRS effectively addresses growing client demand to perform climate reporting, gain clarity over longer-term business strategy and tackle broader risk management concerns. The solution was developed in a lean and agile manner, leveraging a wide range of existing capabilities, from climate hazard expertise and industry knowledge to software developers, across the broader Swiss Re group.

Partnership with clients further helped to ensure that Swiss Re’s CRS service is fit for purpose.

Unlike other solutions already available in the market, CRS shares the same risk knowledge Swiss Re uses for its own day-today catastrophe underwriting purposes with its clients, ensuring ‘skin in the game’ and an alignment of interest in keeping risk pools sustainable and affordable. The solution is primarily delivered through a user-friendly, intuitive platform for easy navigation and visualisation of portfolio risks, but also includes deep-dive expert reports and climate risk education so clients understand the value of what is being delivered. To date, CRS has onboarded international clients and has received excellent feedback.

www.insurancebusinessmag.com/asia

7

INSURANCE INNOVATORS 2021

Key Media International Ltd tel: +61 2 8437 4700 fax: +61 2 9439 4599 www.keymedia.com Singapore • Sydney • Auckland • Manila London • Denver • Toronto For further information, contact: sharon.gray@keymedia.com +61 2 8437 4738 ext. 738

Copyright is reserved throughout. No part of this publication can be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the editor