Pin An - OneConnect - Indonesia

Ping An Insurance’s fintech subsidiary OneConnect has started operations in Indonesia, in a bid to accelerate the market’s financial institutions towards digitisation and a more inclusive financial industry.

According to a statement by Ping An, Indonesia is the largest and fastest-growing internet economy in Southeast Asia with a US$27 billion economy as of 2018. Despite the huge potential, the country’s fintech industry faces various challenges. Large financial institutions are looking for ways to scale up their technological capabilities quickly, while small financial institutions struggle with lack of funds, which makes it harder to reach potential customers and grow their business, the company said.

OneConnect will work to bring to Indonesia the technology solutions used by Ping An in China, Hong Kong, and other markets. These include artificial intelligence, blockchain, and biometrics identification.

As its first step to reach out into the Indonesian market, OneConnect will partner with Indonesia’s traditional market association (ASPARINDO). OneConnect will conduct training workshops and perform site visits at the markets to help the traders and kiosks to digitise.

“We understand the challenges Indonesia’s fintech industry is facing, and this is where OneConnect is able to support,” said Tan Bin Ru, CEO of OneConnect Singapore. “Just as OneConnect leveraged the mobile-first environment in China to gain massive consumer adoption and provide financial access to the underbanked and unbanked, we look to work with local banks and other financial institutions to replicate the success with tailored solutions to help them through their challenges.”

MMA - Comprehensive Social Healthcare Insurance Scheme

The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has called on Putrajaya to draw up a comprehensive social healthcare insurance scheme for all Malaysians before signing a deal to use private hospital specialists and facilities.

Its president Dr Mohamed Namazie Ibrahim said the move would allow both parties to look at an agreeable fee to charge for the facilities. It has to be negotiated. But for the negotiation to take place, he said, the ministry must come up with a related healthcare policy and a sustainable financing solution. Namazie explained that the government had previously rented facilities from private hospitals but the scheme had been cut short as the government ran out of funds.

“While we welcome the initiative by the PH government to ease the burden faced in government hospitals, it should not be on an ad hoc basis,” he said.

Therefore, he hoped the PH government would draw up a comprehensive healthcare plan and add in the cost factors to turn it into a long term initiative.

“There has to be a different kind of financing for the government and the private sector to work together,” he said adding that this would be looked into in a comprehensive healthcare insurance scheme to cover all Malaysians.

Yesterday, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said his ministry had started collaborating with private hospitals to address the issue of getting enough expertise to treat chronic diseases. He had added that some private hospitals had approached them a month ago and shown willingness to work together with the government on resolving the shortage of medical experts in certain areas in government hospitals.

The health ministry has set up a health advisory council to work out the details.

Namazie, who represents the largest and oldest medical profession association in the country, said once the social healthcare insurance scheme was drawn, Putrajaya could call for open tenders if it was keen in using private hospital specialists and facilities. Both parties could then come to an agreement on the pricing of the services, he added. 

“In this era of transparency, the health ministry can call for tenders. But it must be kept in mind that private hospitals have certain minimum costs,” said Namazie.

He added private hospitals were keen as it could benefit them in terms of increased patient referrals and use of their facilities by the government.

The government recently launched the Finance Ministry’s mySalam health insurance scheme for the Bottom 40th percentile (B40) of income earners ― to which insurance company Great Eastern Takaful Berhad is contributing a whopping RM2 billion. However, doctor and patient groups have raised concerns about a government-run health insurance scheme for the poor, stating it lacks details and has insufficient benefits.

Former MMA president Dr Milton Lum was quoted in the media as saying the government must have mechanisms in place to prevent corruption.

He had asked if a middleman would be involved in the mySalam scheme and if the health ministry would procure drugs via open tender or negotiations, pointing out that the use of middlemen and obsolete contracts had caused the ministry to purchase drugs at a higher price than other countries.

EPY Eyeing Insurance Industry

Malaysia’s Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is weighing its options to invest in foreign-owned insurers operating in the country.

The EPF, which manages the compulsory pensions plan for private sector workers in Malaysia, is looking to buy up to a 30% stake in one of several fully foreign-owned insurers in the market, which need to reduce their holdings to 70% to comply with an order from the country’s central bank.

EPF is evaluating its acquisition targets based on its investment profile and risk/returns appetite.

“We are very open towards exploring this (acquisition),” said EPF chief executive Tunku Alizakri Alias. “We look at the insurance industry as a huge growth sector in Malaysia. We know for a fact that Malaysia is heavily under insured at this point in time. We know insurance companies have lot of good infrastructure.”

Alizakri did not divulge any specific details regarding the planned acquisition, saying everything is still under negotiation. However, he revealed that the EPF is looking for a strategic acquisition instead of a massive purchase.

“We don’t believe in management control – that is our strategy. 30% is being put up for sale in foreign insurance companies,” he said. “We will definitely take a portion of the stake that is being offered to the market.”

DBS Cyber Insurance

DBS cyber insurance will now be available to customers in Hong Kong. DBS Hong Kong has become the first bank in the area to offer this form of cyber insurance. The offering includes financial support for trauma counselling, legal consultation and action, as well as tech support. In addition, other urgent needs are covered.

CyberOne - As part of CyberOne, underwritten by Chubb Insurance, comprehensive coverage is delivered for as little as HK$1 a day. This provides comprehensive cyber bulling coverage. Furthermore, online privacy invasion and identity theft are looked after and there is also access to a 24-hour hotline and access to specialists.

CyberOne is part of DBS Bank (Hong Kong)’s new microinsurance offering, which also includes PassengerOne for medical coverage and compensation, TravelOne for worry-free travels, and PurchaseOne for safe shopping.

Terry Li, Executive Director and Head of Bancassurance, Consumer Banking Group and Wealth Management, of DBS Bank (Hong Kong), said: “The more people, especially young people, connect, communicate and consume digitally, the more opportunities there are for cybercrimes to proliferate. Knowing how to protect against cyber threats is the first line of defence, and we believe CyberOne can equip those who are vulnerable with the means to protect themselves for a more safe and smart online experience.”

DBS Bank and Insurer Chubb signed a bancassurance agreement in 2018. It was to distribute home, contents and selected personal accident and supplemental health (A&H) insurance products as well as general insurance products for SMEs.

The insurance distribution partnership will be valid for a period of 15 years and will cover Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. Indonesia quickly followed.

Under the terms of the agreement, the lender will distribute Chubb insurance products to its six million retail, wealth and SME customers through a network of more than 200 branches as well as via its digital banking platforms.

Plug & Play - Launched - Indonesia

Plug and Play Singapore announced today that two new partners have joined their Fintech and Insurtech programs, both coming from Indonesia. Astra International will be joining the Fintech program while Sequis Life will be joining the Insurtech platform. In this collaboration, both Indonesian companies will gain access to the global startups in Plug and Play's ecosystem. Sequis Life joins MSIG and Willis Towers Watson in the Insurtech program, while Astra International joins Krung Thai Bank, and TVS Credit in participating in Plug and Play's second Fintech program starting at the end of February.

"In order to be ready for the future, collaboration with startup companies has become one of Astra's main priorities," said Aloysius Budi Santoso, Chief Corporate Human Capital Development for Astra International. "This partnership with Plug and Play Singapore will create opportunities for us to search, select, and work with companies that can provide additional value to our current challenges."

"As we reach our 35th year of serving the Indonesian community, we are excited to partner with Plug and Play to bring new life and health technologies to our customers," said Tatang Widjaja, President Director and CEO at Sequis Life. "Connecting with startups through Plug and Play will bring us one step closer to achieving our goal to provide a seamless customer journey."

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Plug and Play's global innovation platform provides connections between startups with emerging technologies and corporations looking to further develop their digitalization strategies and improve existing business models.

"We're quite excited to start working with our first two Indonesian partners in our Fintech and Insurtech programs here in Singapore. Our goal is to become a regional innovation powerhouse for financial services, and in order to do so, it's imperative to work with key players in all of the major markets in Southeast Asia," said Kayvon Deldar, Program Head of Plug and Play's Fintech and Insurtech programs in Singapore. "Indonesiais a huge area of opportunity for our startups to successfully scale in the region, and we're looking forward to seeing flourishing partnerships from Astra International and Sequis Life as they work with our international pool of startups."

Plug and Play Singapore has programs focused on Fintech, Insurtech, and Mobility, with plans to launch Supply Chain & Logistics and Travel & Hospitality later this year.

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 20 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 10,000 startups and 280 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $7 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club and PayPal.

Our Singapore office was launched in 2010 to invest in high tech startups in the region. Since then we have invested in more than 30 startups and have collaborated with various agencies of the Singapore and Indonesian governments, as well as partnered with multinational and regional corporations to run industry-specific accelerator programs. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/singapore or email finsg@pnptc.com

About Astra International

Astra International is one of the biggest corporations in Indonesiaspanning over 7 lines of business, operated through 226 companies and more than 226,000 employees under the umbrella. One of the main business lines is Financial Services and Insurance.

About PT Asuransi Jiwa Sequis Life

PT Asuransi Jiwa Sequis Life (Sequis Life) was established in 1984 with the name of PT Universal Life Indonesia (ULINDO) under the management of Gunung Sewu which later changed its name to Sewu New York Life (NYL) in 1992. In 2003, all NYL shares was acquired and changed its company name into Sequis Life focusing on serving individual and group customers through agency distribution channel that offers a diverse range of innovative products including life and health insurance.

Our strategic partnership with Nippon Life since 2014 based on sharing mutual trust, understanding and respect is aimed not only to strengthen our business position and distribution in Indonesia, but also enable both companies to share knowledge of best practices, good governance in life insurance business, and financial transparency.

By the end of 2018, Sequis Life owns a total asset of IDR 18,3 trillion, more than 385,000 policies and supported by over 15,700 professional agents.

Ping An IPO - US$8 Billion Financial Portal

Ping An Insurance (Group) Co, China's largest insurer by market value, is gearing up for an initial public offering of its OneConnect unit that could value the financial management portal at about US$8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ping An is now targeting to list OneConnect in Hong Kong as soon as the second half of this year, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The share sale could raise roughly US$1 billion, according to the people.

The insurance giant initially had a fundraising goal of as much as US$3 billion last year, before an increasingly volatile market forced it to push back the listing. Ping An tempered its valuation expectations and may offer a smaller stake in the business after OneConnect's business performance wasn't as strong as initially projected, one person said.

A OneConnect spinoff and IPO would be one of the highest-profile deals in Hong Kong since a rapidly decelerating Chinese economy chilled public funding and the country's tech space. It would help propel Ping An's longer-term strategy to transform itself into a financial technology powerhouse.

The tech-heavy MSCI China Index has risen 20 per cent from its January low. Deliberations are still at an early stage, and details of the OneConnect offering including the valuation and fundraising size could change depending on market sentiment, the people said. Gareth Hewett, a spokesman for the company, declined to comment. 

OneConnect provides cloud computing and other technology services to small- and medium-sized financial institutions. It's partnered with more than 460 banks as well as over 1,800 other financial services firms from insurers and brokerages to fund managers and private-equity houses, according to Ping An's 2017 annual report. The Ping An subsidiary has previously raised US$650 million in a series A financing round that valued the company at US$7.4 billion.

Ping An last year spun off and floated Ping An Healthcare and Technology Co. That company, known as Good Doctor, provides platforms used by hospitals, insurers and pharmacies.

Sunday Digital Insurance - Thailand

D-based digital insurance platform Sunday has raised US$10 million in Series A funding led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, to expand its data team and conduct research and development.

The 1.5-year-old startup runs an online platform offering non-life insurance products in Thailand, ranging from flight delay coverage to auto and health insurance.

It aims to differentiate itself from existing insurance marketplaces by offering customisable products through an artificial intelligence-driven risk-prediction model.

Sunday also offers employee health benefits and real-time claims management solutions targeting small and medium enterprises.

It said that one of its investors is an insurance group which provides the startup “exclusive use” of its insurance license. Sunday declined to name the insurer. It did not respond directly to queries from The Business Times on what the licence is used for, but said that the insurer shares its “vision and strategy”.

Sunday also declined to disclose the number of customers it has.

The startup kicked off in Thailand given the gaps in the local insurance industry, alongside the availability of tech talent, said co-founder and CEO Cindy Kua.

“We felt that piloting and testing our business model in Thailand makes sense since this market is one of the most fragmented when it comes to insurance. If our business model works in Thailand, we are confident it will work for other Asian markets,” she said.

Sunday hopes to expand to key South-east Asian markets, including Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The startup’s integrated platform could change how insurance pricing and claims payouts are done, said Chua Kee Lock, managing partner of Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, in a media statement.

“If e-commerce can provide dynamic pricing, then a digital insurer like Sunday can provide personalized premium pricing depending on insights into consumers’ behaviour and needs.

“As part of the insurance journey revolves around claims experience, Sunday’s integrated technology platform will enable a more seamless claims experience, where payout will be carried out efficiently,” he said.