He introduces MetLife Discovery, a first-of-its-kind tool that helps customers visualise their insurance needs.

Lee Wood is the chief executive officer of MetLife Hong Kong since 2016. A seasoned insurance professional with over 15 years of experience, he is responsible for helping MetLife become the leading customer-focussed insurance company in Hong Kong. In this exclusive interview with Insurance Asia, Lee talks about how the company is adapting to digitalisation, its new initiatives, and the goals he wants to achieve.

How is MetLife Hong Kong adapting to the big push towards digitalisation of the financial services industry?
Digitalisation has the potential to thoroughly disrupt the insurance industry the way it has for many other industries. And I am excited that MetLife is taking leadership in some very real areas here in Hong Kong.

Our focus at MetLife is to not just digitise for our own efficiency—which is, of course, important in order to lower costs—but to find ways to link up with and leverage all the other digital initiatives that are going on in the world to bring a better value proposition to our customers.

One of our initiatives is MetLife Discovery, a new digital platform that empowers consumers to discover insurance needs and coverage in a few clicks. We launched MetLife Discovery to ensure that we start relationships with consumers through meaningful conversations built on simplicity, transparency, speed, and efficiency.

MetLife Discovery allows anyone to come to our website and quickly and relatively easily understand information about insurance, as well as find out what other people like themselves are considering in terms of insurance coverage. The information given by MetLife Discovery includes the money they should expect to spend and general price indicators for the cost of such coverage. MetLife Discovery is a new and unique digital platform that helps consumers quickly and easily discover and visualise their insurance needs before intelligently allocating resources in a new way.

With the ability to capture smarter data, the platform provides coverage mapping. Leveraging government statistics, the platform estimates a consumer’s income range according to their occupation. Consumers can get a holistic view of insurance needs across life, critical illness, hospital & medical benefits, accident protection, and savings—all without disclosing much personal information.

The platform also uses an intuitive design that allows people to use any device for access and then “play” around and create a tailor-made insurance package. It is simple, easy to use, and available anywhere at any time.

How has MetLife Hong Kong progressed under your leadership?
I am very proud of the progress we have made together on several fronts. First, our distribution teams have worked closely with us over the last year through many different business and market changes and have allowed us to maintain an industry leading 48% year-on-year growth rate of our agency business. We have a tremendously high quality professional agency force, a strong and stable telemarketing team and wonderful independent advisor partners who are all committed to our goal of being a customer-focussed insurer. This commitment and professionalism has allowed us to rapidly expand our sales force over the last few years and is moving us closer to our goal of expanding to 1,600 agents within the next two years.

Second, in terms of operational excellence, we are proud of all the great products we have been able to develop and deliver last year. Indeed, we have been a product leader in many categories last year.

We are particularly pleased with the digital initiatives we have such as MetLife Discovery. In addition to these customer facing initiatives, we have also modernized our workspace and are optimizing internal operations to enhance our efficiency and deliver better value for money to our customers.

What three goals are you focussed on for the next year?
Internally, we really focus on just two key concepts: growth and efficiency. The way to growth will be to first, continue the work we are doing to deliver the best customer-centric solutions—either products or enhanced risk assessment tools that let us provide better offers to customers.

Second is to make all things easier for customers to understand and buy—including MetLife Discovery and our new digital application process. We think customers are becoming more insurance savvy and will really appreciate the transparency MetLife Discovery provides, as well as the ease in creating a holistic protection plan.

Then we will continue to expand perhaps the most well-trained, digitally-enabled, professional agency salesforces in Hong Kong to 1,600 agents over the next two years. We will also deepen strong relationships with independent advisors through product innovation, including investment-linked products and diabetes offers. Finally, we will empower our strong and stable telemarketing staff to expand their capabilities to leverage digital communications platforms.

In terms of efficiency, we will utilise digital technology to both improve services and lower costs. As noted above, we now have a complete digital application process that will enable customers to purchase products and potentially have them issued in a speedy and efficient way.

As customer expectations are constantly increasing, so are the demands on our people. I also look to continue to invest in the development of our staff and provide more support to make sure we maintain our team talent. It will ensure we have what we need to deliver the innovation to compete in the future. Disruption is coming. MetLife is actually leading the way.

The Asian mass affluent consumer is expected to hold $43.3t in assets by 2020, and Goldberg eyes leveraging this opportunity.

Derek Goldberg is managing director, Asia Pacific for Aetna International, based in Singapore. In this role he serves as chief executive of Aetna Insurance (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., chief executive of Aetna Insurance Company Limited Singapore Branch, and president commissioner of Aetna Global Benefits Indonesia. He is responsible for developing Aetna’s business throughout the Asia Pacific region and has recently been named the CEO of the Year at the 2017 Insurance Asia Awards.

Goldberg joined Aetna in 2006, and during his career with the company, he has led a number of international development initiatives, including the acquisition of an insurance license for Aetna Health Insurance Company of Europe Limited (AHICE) and the implementation of strategic partnerships in various locations throughout the world. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and is conversant in Japanese. Find out more about Goldberg in this exclusive interview with Insurance Asia.

What do you consider as your biggest achievements so far as the managing director, Asia Pacific of Aetna International? How has the company progressed under your leadership?
One key area of focus for me has been employee development for the people at Aetna. All employees are encouraged to maintain a development plan with the support of their managers. We have also increased training and development opportunities year-over-year. One of the metrics that points to success is that at least 20% of our team members have benefitted from internal transfer or promotion opportunities within the past two years. We have numerous examples of employees transferring across international borders to take on new roles. This has allowed the talent in Aetna to advance their skills and careers. We intend to build on this going forward.

In terms of business results, I am most proud of our geographic expansion. In Asia, we’ve expanded our presence from three countries to eight over the past five years. Our regional expansion allows us to provide highly localised services, matched with the expertise of our global network. One recent example of expansion is our acquisition in July this year of Bupa Health Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, a large specialty health insurer in Thailand. Adding 300,000 members and over 400 health care providers to our network there is a significant demonstration of our commitment to investing in the Asia Pacific region.

What are your key business philosophies?
This is a people business and there are two groups of people we must never lose sight of, our customers and our employees. With respect to customers, if we look at every business decision through the lens of what is the impact on the customer, we will make better decisions. It sounds obvious, but it is too easy to focus exclusively on process or product and lose sight of the customer. Our strong local presence throughout the Asia region is also key to understanding our customers, as needs vary country-to-country.

With respect to employees, we’re focused on fostering an environment which allows our employees to grow. With a strong commitment to employee development and skills advancement, we seek to equip our team members to provide Aetna’s members with the best possible healthcare services. By ensuring our employees’ needs are met in addition to considering how better health services can be provided to our customers, everyone wins.

What three goals are you focused on for the next 12 months?
Tapping into Asia’s growing mass affluent market: One of the largest and fastest growing wealth segments, the Asian mass affluent, is projected to hold $43.3 trillion in assets by 2020, according to PwC. There’s certainly opportunity to further expand our health insurance offering to target a greater share of the disposable income and medical spending of this mass affluent segment.

Growing our brand: Aetna will be working hard to increase brand awareness in the Asia Pacific region. As we invest further in this region, we also need to invest in getting our story out there, ensuring that we have the recognition required for companies and individuals to benefit from our health solutions.

Putting our people at the centre of our strategy: Talent and team development will remain as one of our key priorities. To cultivate and retain top talent, we will continue to invest and re-invest in our employees, presenting new opportunities for learning and career advancements as well as nurturing the diverse and inclusive workplace we are so proud of.

What is the significance of your win as the CEO of the Year at the Insurance Asia Awards to you and to Aetna International?
A CEO is only as good as his or her team. Rather than a personal recognition, I consider this award to be a validation of the quality of the team we have built in Asia, as well as the progress made by Aetna. This award belongs to the hundreds of team members all around the region who support our customers every day, and continue to strive to do more. I hope they see this win as part of their achievements as well.
 

Teow eyes bridging the US$330b protection gap and increasing collaborations amongst stakeholders.

As the new president of the Life Insurance Association, Singapore (LIA Singapore) elected in March 2017, Patrick Teow already has a lot on his plate. He acknowledges that there are awareness and perception issues that need to be addressed in order to get more Singaporeans adequately insured and financially independent. He notes that as of end-2011, the total protection gap in Singapore was S$462.1b (US$330b). With Singapore’s rapidly ageing population, bridging this gap is of utmost priority for industry players like Teow. He notes that the number of those aged 65 and above will nearly double from 220,000 in 2000 to approximately 900,000 in 2030.

Teow is the chief executive officer of AIA Singapore. He joined AIA in July 2013 as CEO of AIA Group Agency Distribution. He has been driving the company’s success
across multiple markets by boosting productivity levels and creating a strong Premier Agency culture focused on quality and professionalism.

Before making his move to AIA, Teow spent close to 28 years at Prudential, having taken on the role of regional chief agency officer for Asia, EVP and chief distribution
officer-Prudential Singapore as well as group financial services director. He holds professional Chartered Life Underwriter and Chartered Financial Consultant qualifications.

In this exclusive interview with Insurance Asia, Teow shares his thoughts on the current state of the insurance sector in Singapore, his plans and goals for LIA Singapore, his business philosophies, and more.

What are the latest trends and challenges in Singapore’s insurance industry?
Despite the maturity of our market today, the protection gap in Singapore still persists. The total protection gap in Singapore was S$462.1b (US$330b), as of end of 2011. This means that people have not been effective in their personal financial planning and will become increasingly more reliant on others for financial support.

In this respect, we recognise that there is segment of society who may not recognise the true value provided by professional financial advisers — which include tied agents, and independent financial firms — or they are being more cautious about getting help to better manage their finances. It is both an awareness and a perception issue that need to be addressed for us to get more people adequately insured and financially independent.

This is especially critical because of Singapore’s rapidly ageing population which, if not effectively managed, will increase the financial burden placed on our smaller economically active workforce and the government. Singapore has the highest proportion of older residents and the fastest ageing population in Southeast Asia, according to the World Bank. In fact, the number of those aged 65 and above will nearly double from 220,000 in 2000 to approximately 900,000 in 2030.

Tied to this is the pressing need for Singaporeans to keep healthy to avoid suffering from chronic diseases, and for all relevant parties in the healthcare ecosystem to better manage healthcare costs to ensure the affordability of medical treatments and sustainability of medical insurance.

Today, approximately one in four Singaporeans aged 40 years and above suffer from at least one chronic disease such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and stroke. In fact, in 2010 alone, diabetes cost the government more than $1 billion — a figure that is expected to exceed $2.5b by 2050.

Healthcare costs in Singapore will soon become unsustainable if left unchecked, a conclusion that the Health Insurance Taskforce (HITF) had in their recommendation paper launched in October 2016.

In the report, HITF highlighted that, for the ten-year period from 2005 to 2015, the Consumer Purchase Index (CPI) for healthcare, which includes cost of medical treatment and health insurance, increased by 30.6%. This is significantly higher than the 21.7% on prices of consumer goods and services, as measured by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Core Inflation.

How does the rise of digital impact Singapore’s insurance industry?
The rise of digitalisation has vastly changed the way we live, work, and play, and disrupted traditional business models. In keeping with the changing times, the insurance industry is taking steps to rethink the way we do business. Leveraging the benefits of digitalisation will help us in the pursuit of sustainable progress in meeting the savings, protection, and investment needs of the community. Globally, the insurance industry has already been called out for lagging behind other industries when it comes to innovation and customer-friendly digital experiences. There is much that we can do as an industry, and there are three key areas which offer immense potential for us to explore, namely:

Data analytics to drive innovation
Data-driven innovations come from effectively coaxing treasures out of enormous amounts of data to uncover deep consumer insights to steer business strategies, product development, and sales efforts. Numerous members of the Association are already investing in innovation centres with research and development efforts and data analytics focused on innovations to improve risk management and provide greater value to customers.

Digitalisation to enhance customer experiences
Digitalisation offers a way for us to provide customers greater convenience, quicker response to their concerns, and more options in the way they choose to engage with
insurers — whether it’s how they purchase insurance and submit claims, or getting more information and seeking financial advice. Initiatives such as digital underwriting
systems and integrated financial advisory platforms are examples of how life insurers in Singapore continue to improve customer experiences as well as productivity and efficiency levels.

Information-sharing and integrated digital platforms for greater collaboration within our ecosystem including insurers, healthcare providers, and policyholders.
Life insurers in Singapore are collaborating to share and consolidate health insurance claims data, making it easier to identify outliers overprescribing and/or overcharging for healthcare services.

What is your outlook for the insurance industry for the next 3-5 years?
We are cautiously optimistic of the life insurance industry’s opportunities for growth and contribution to Singapore’s ongoing progress, just as how the industry rose above to increase the level of protection in Singapore and record a healthy growth of 10% compared to a modest 1.8% growth in our nation’s GDP last year.

Whilst we expect uncertainty in the global economy from 2016 to persist into the year ahead, the Association’s priority is to implement our plan for 2017 focused on ensuring the sustainable growth of the industry and safeguarding interests of consumers.

Our top priorities and commitment for the year are in the areas of: managing the affordability of healthcare in Singapore, bridging the underinsurance gap, and prioritising consumer interests.

What makes you excited about your new position?
It is inspiring to be driving the industry’s transformation at a time of massive change. We are evolving rapidly and expanding our role beyond providing protection as it has been traditionally defined.

Today, Singapore’s life insurance industry is redefining “protection” with people-centric initiatives that include championing preventive healthcare for a healthier population, and facilitating greater collaboration amongst multiple stakeholders to address the national issue of escalating healthcare costs. And, in this era of the Internet of Things (IoT), it is our time to embrace digital disruption and introduce more innovations to truly make a difference in the lives of customers and the community at large.

What three goals are you focused on?
LIA Singapore’s vision of providing security, stability, and peace of mind for the community continues to be our true north. Accordingly, our focus now is to be the catalyst for change, empowering organisations, communities, and individuals to proactively make a difference to their lives, and that of others around them. Managing the affordability of healthcare in Singapore LIA Singapore’s work group is tirelessly putting together a plan with clear actions on what our industry can do to mitigate the challenge of rising healthcare costs following the LIA Study in 2015, and the recommendations put forth by the Health Insurance Task Force (HITF) in October 2016.

We hope that our efforts will be the first of many initiatives by all parties to take ownership of their role in keeping healthcare affordable and accessible because it can only be achieved through the collective efforts of all stakeholders within the ecosystem.

This was also concluded by the HITF — which had representation from numerous parties including insurers, healthcare professionals, and regulators — in their recommendation paper last year.

Bridging the underinsurance gap
This year, LIA Singapore is commissioning a fresh protection gap study as an update to the last study which we conducted in 2011 and subsequently released in 2012. The updated study will not only give us a sense of how much progress Singapore has made in bridging the underinsurance gap here, but it also provides a basis for us to prioritise our efforts to provide the community better security and peace of mind.

Having sufficient insurance coverage is especially important in a time of uncertainty, which is what we are facing today. In our last protection gap study, we identified a significant S$462b protection gap in Singapore, indicating that the average protection gap of a working adult then was 3.7 times his/her annual income — that level of coverage is significantly less than the recommended coverage amount of 10 times one’s annual salary to meet one’s protection needs.

Prioritising consumer interests
This is an ongoing effort for the industry, and our initiatives in 2017 include the introduction of new disclosure initiatives under the Financial Advisory Industry Review (FAIR), and exploring digital innovations to increase choice and improve customer experience for consumers

What will you do differently as president of LIA Singapore?
I appreciate that each leader has his unique leadership style and brings something different to the table. As the newly elected president of LIA Singapore, it is my commitment and that of the Management Committee’s, to build on the strong foundations laid down over the years by my predecessors and see the industry continue scaling new heights.

I would like to see, at the end of my term, success in narrowing Singapore’s protection gap, and greater collaboration amongst stakeholders for the benefit of society.

What are your key business philosophies?
I believe in the importance of integrity and courage to do the right things the right way, and for the right reasons. These philosophies do also apply to life insurance which really is all about people, and having their trust that we will safeguard their well-being and that of their loved ones. In keeping with this, one of the industry’s initiatives in 2017 is to step up on consumer education efforts to help individuals better understand the value and importance of health insurance coverage, as well as the complementary nature of Integrated Shield Plans (IPs) vis-à-vis MediShield Life.

What previous positions prepared you for this one?
It is the sum of our experiences that help shape who we are and how we choose to move forward into the future. Three decades of experience in the life insurance
industry across the region and in numerous functions are assets I will certainly tap on. Beyond that, I also believe that my personal experiences and interactions with
people — be it family and friends, regulators, colleagues, and other Singaporeans — ensures that our initiatives are relevant and provide value for the community.

Not succumbing to the price war and a risk-based underwriting model has indeed paid off.

At the inaugural Insurance Asia Awards held in July 2016, Tapan Singhel, managing director and CEO of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance bagged the most prestigious award of the night – the CEO of the Year. In an exclusive interview with Insurance Asia, Singhel talks about the market trends and challenges in the region, and how Bajaj Allianz grew in size and scale over the years.

How is the insurance sector affected by the big push towards digitisation in the financial services industry?
Digitisation has transformed the insurance business model and has enabled insurers to directly sell online to customers which helped facilitate the sales of personal lines of business and also the creation of simple product and purchase mechanisms.

Insurers equipped the sales force with tablets and opened virtual offices which eliminate the need to set up brick-and-mortar offices, thereby reducing costs and enabling better distribution and access to newer markets. It also ensures that the collection of data is also systematised, enabling insurers to use more analytics in underwriting and curbing frauds.

Self-service platforms that did not exist a few years ago have empowered our customers and business partners to take insurance-related decisions independently while making available the solutions anytime and anywhere.

Today, customers can lodge the claim and the company can immediately assess the loss and settle it directly with the customer, which ensures that the company has better engagement and constant connection with its customers.

What are the biggest challenges facing the insurance sector today? 
Pricing has been a major challenge for the industry which has consistently seen mounting underwriting losses over the last few years. An increased impetus on bringing down organised frauds to some extent and sustainable pricing will help counter the high claims ratio seen by the industry. The general insurance industry also needs to step up its focus on designing simpler and more customercentric products to increase penetration in personal lines of business. Non-life insurance penetration in India stands at merely 0.8%, lower than other developing countries such as Malaysia and Thailand.

What do you consider as your biggest achievements so far as the CEO of Bajaj Allianz?
The last five years as the MD & CEO of one of India’s most customer-focussed companies has been an incredible journey. My endeavour has been to take our customer initiatives to the next level and create an environment that fosters innovation and growth even within the company. For me, achievement is when we have created a solution that has benefitted the customer and has made their transactions faster and more seamless. Continuous engagement with our customers beyond insurance by making Bajaj Allianz a one-stop shop for solutions to all the unforeseen problems faced by the customers has been the biggest achievement.

Today, we provide our customers with a gamut of value-added services apart from insurance solutions, and this has enabled us to take our relationship with them beyond insurance. The digital revolution and the culture of innovation within the company has not only empowered the employees, but has also resulted in many customer-centric industry-first initiatives such as our robust digital distribution network, mobile-based selfservicing platforms and even new-age products, the latest in the offing being a mobile solution that will enable the customers to settle their own motor claims.

What progress do you think the company has made under your leadership?
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance is the only insurance company in the Indian market that has made consistent profits despite the challenging business environment. The company’s profits have grown at a CAGR of 46% in the last five years while paying claims worth over US$2,237m during the same time period. Not succumbing to the price war and a risk-based underwriting model has helped the company improve its financial performance year on year and deliver to its customers in times of claim.

Today, we are not only one of the most profitable insurance companies in India, but also have the highest solvency in the industry. Consistent focus on digital initiatives has also enabled us to take our footprint to over 600 new towns and cities across India. We have grown in size and scale by keeping our customers at the centre of every initiative we have taken.

What are your key business philosophies?
My obsession with my customers and employees drive my business decisions. The idea behind every business decision is how it is going to make a difference in the lives of the end users, be it the customer or my employees. I believe that happy employees make customers happy.

How do you feel about winning as the CEO of the Year at the inaugural Insurance Asia Awards?
I am extremely humbled and honoured to receive this recognition and would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the jury and Insurance Asia Awards for bestowing this accolade. I would like to thank my employees and our business partners for their unstinted support, together with whom we have been able to achieve many a milestones. It also is a reminder that we have a huge responsibility towards continuing to innovate and push the benchmark for our customers.