U Mobile & Sun Life Tie-up

U MOBILE and insurance company Sun Life Malaysia have inked a memorandum of understanding that will see both companies providing telco-assurance to U Mobile’s five million customers.

The collaboration is said to be the first where a Malaysian telco offers life insurance to customers.

U Mobile customers that subscribe to the micro insurance would be able to apply, subscribe and manage their life insurance coverage entirely from their mobile phone.

Its chief executive officer Wong Heang Tuck said that insurance coverage is just one of the many services that the telco will be launching this year in an effort to evolve into being more than a telco.

“We believe that all our customers want to have peace of mind during their time of need,” said Wong.

Beginning in October, U Mobile will partner Sun Life Malaysia to offer micro-insurance that would be accessible to U Mobile customers.

“Sun Life Malaysia shares our ethos of challenging market norms and together we will be able to offer products that are suitable yet financially accessible,” he added.

Also present at the signing ceremony was Sun Life Malaysia’s chief executive officer and country head, Raymond Lew. He says that five out of every 10 Malaysians do not have life insurance coverage.

He believes that the collaboration would increase the awareness of the importance of life insurance among Malaysians and increase accessibility for customers to purchase insurance products.

“Today’s partnership marks our foray into telco-assurance and we are excited to offer micro-insurance products while supporting the Malaysian government’s objective to achieve an insurance penetration rate of 75% by 2020,” Lew added.