AIP News RoundUp – Episode 14 – Theresa Blissing and Michael Waitze – March 17 – The Problem Is Changing Behavior

17 Mar 2020Posted By Michael Waitze

Host

Michael Waitze

Michael Waitze worked in Global Finance for more than 20 years, employed by firms like Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, primarily in Tokyo. Michael lived and worked in Tokyo from February 1990 until December 2011. Michael always maintained a particular focus on how technology could be used to make businesses more efficient and to drive P/L growth. Michael is a leader in the digital media space, building one of the biggest and fastest-growing podcast listener bases in the region. His AsiaTechPodcast.com show has listeners in more than 130 countries and his company, Michael Waitze Media produces some of Asia’s most popular podcasts.

Guest

Theresa Blissing

Theresa is the founder of the Asia InsurTech Podcast and a Thought Leader on innovation in insurance in Asia. She has worked for ten years for leading multinational insurers in Europe and Asia before turning to management consulting and venture building with the goal of transforming the insurance industry and helping shape its future in the region.

In this episode of the AIP News Roundup Michael and Theresa talk about the launch of the new AIP website and its new functionalities. They also talk about the soft-launch of InsurTech Mentors, a global mentoring platform that connects insurers with startups and young talents. In collaboration with Aerate, the team is onboarding insurers and digital talents onto the platform as we write this. Insurers interested to get more information can email Theresa at theresa@insurtechmentors.com

In other InsurTech news, Covid-19 has obviously had a major impact on the insurance industry. PingAn’s OneConnect is in the news on how their technology can help insurers get Covid-19 ready by offering solutions for digital services including digital claims management. Insurers with strong digital capabilities in their front and back-ends definitely have an advantage at the moment. The team predicts that Covid-19 will have a massive impact on insurance distribution and that we will probably see an increase in online sales. In this context, Paytm in India and GoBear in Thailand have just acquired brokerage licenses.

China is in the news again as well as its biggest ride-hailing company Didi is taking a 32% share in Hyundai Insurance China. It looks like Didi is expanding its financial service offerings. While Southeast Asian competitors Grab and Gojek are currently looking at partnerships with insurers, Didi has now acquired a significant share in one.

Other companies mentioned in this episode: Symbo, Roojai, Frank.co.th