AIP News RoundUp – Episode 30 – Rahul Mathur and Theresa Blissing – Is There a Real Use Case for Blockchain In Insurance?

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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 170 countries and his company, Michael Waitze Media produces some of Asia’s most popular podcasts.

Guest
Rahul Mathur

Rahul is the Startup lead at Accenture’s FinTech Innovation Lab in London. Prior to joining Accenture, he was an Insurance Product Manager at Laka Insurance, a London headquartered early stage InsurTech start-up which recently won at the British Insurance Awards 2019.  Rahul holds a master’s degree in Statistics from the University of Warwick. He is an Ambassador at the Asia InsurTech podcast.

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.

November started with some exciting blockchain news. Singlife Philippines adopts Galileo’s blockchain solution as their insurance core policy administration system. After years of proof-of-concept projects, this is Galileo’s first implementation and possibly the first time ever a blockchain platform is used by an insurer as a core system. Blockchain platforms promise to lower admin costs substantially and are therefore a great fit for low-cost products. Singlife will use Galileo’s platform in conjunction with e-wallet provider G-Cash to offer micro-insurance policies.

Another company launching a new micro-insurance product is Chubb in partnership with international money transfer service Pay2Home. Similar to the concept developed by AXA, Democrance and Hello Paisa in Dubai, Chubb and Pay2Home are targeting foreign low-wage workers in Singapore sending money back home. The product includes a freemium version offering a free 30-day plan for users when they make a remittance of at least S$100. The question that remains is if they will be successful converting users from freemium to premium. 

November has seen some interesting InsurTech fundings so far. Indian startup Fedo collected $1Mn in Pre-Series A led by Unicorn Ventures. Fedo focuses on AI providing insights into the health risks of an individual. While this is a useful tool to fight fraud, it raises the question if it can be used for anti-selection and discrimination. In Hong Kong, InsurTech Coherent raises US$14 Million in Series A Funding led by Cathay Innovation. Coherent was founded by the former CIO of ManuLife Hong Kong and is focused on developing backend solutions for insurance incumbents.


Other companies mentioned in this episode: Igloo, Ignatica, Grab

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