InsurTech

SingSaver Gets Brokerage License from MAS, Launches Digital Insurance Comparison

									by Fintech News Singapore
December 12, 2019

Comparison platform SingSaver.com.sg announced today that they have launched instant digital insurance comparison on its platform fresh off securing a brokerage license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The platform now offers a comprehensive range of insurance products across travel, home, and maid categories spanning over 100 policies by 12 leading providers.
Insurance partners at launch include AXA, Allianz, FWD, HL Assurance, Ergo, MSIG, NTUC Income, Tokio Marine, Ergo, Sompo, Allied World, and Etiqa TIQ.
The platform’s new license as an insurance broker is a key milestone for the business as it diversifies beyond credit cards and personal loans. SingSaver’s new broking team are able to advise consumers applying for a range of insurance products.

Rohith Murthy, Founder and Country Manager at SingSaver, said:
“We’re seeing more demand from consumers in Singapore of all ages for online shopping when it comes to  financial products. It used to be the case that banks and insurers sold you a product; now that model has been flipped upside down. As we become more digital savvy and less loyal to brands, a new generation of shoppers spearheaded by the Millennials and Gen Z’s want to instantly compare and apply for financial products like insurance online — and increasingly on mobile.”
Singapore’s insurance market is expected to hit S$4 billion in 2020, based on a compound annual growth rate of 3.4 per cent (FY2018 data published by General Insurance Association of Singapore).
In 2019, SingSaver parent CompareAsiaGroup (CAG) celebrated reaching over 80 million uses across the region. CAG secured US$20 million in Series B1 funding from Experian in August, the leading global provider of data and analytical tools. The group is backed by institutional investors including Goldman Sachs, IFC World Bank, Alibaba, and Experian.

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InsurTech

Why Singapore Is The Perfect Location For Insurance Innovation And InsurTech Startups

									by George Kesselman
June 30, 2016

What is the best way to drive innovation in insurance? In the last post, we’ve scratched the surface around the various corporate innovation models that exist in insurance industry. In the nutshell, the conclusion that we’ve arrived at is that collaboration with startups is the secret sauce for most innovative corporates. Furthermore, a combination of innovation models is needed to achieve the maximum impact.
George Kesselman
In this post, we’ll cover five practical innovation enablers:
– Have a mission that matters = Make risk transfer as easy as taking an Uber
– Be transparent, share and contribute back = InsurTechAsia Community
– Location location location = Brexit and Singenter
MAKE RISK TRANSFER AS EASY AS TAKING AN UBER

In the lightning speed world of on demand Uber, AirBnB and Amazon, insurance has hardly moved from where its been 20 years ago and has a long way to catch up. It’s a challenge and an opportunity at the same time. Whether insurance can catch-up or another more efficient risk transfer mechanism appears, only time will tell.
The mission of creating an efficient risk transfer, which is as easy as grabbing an Uber is indeed a big and hairy ambition. None the less, its an exciting one and its starting to draw large droves of bright entrepreneurs, developers, data and behavioral scientists to it. There’s plenty of interest in the Venture Capital community to fund these experiments and shots at fundamentally redefining the insurance model.
INSURTECHASIA COMMUNITY

As much as innovation is about nailing the brilliant idea as it is about a lot of other controllable (ex. team, execution, supportive ecosystem) and uncontrollable factors (ex. timing, network, partners). These factors taken together translate into a meagerly low probability of a startup hitting a unicorn status of $1bn. While unicorn in itself is nothing special its none the less a good proxy to a step change and a substantial value creation.
What this simply means is that it will take a large number of startups trying various idea/team/location combinations to find the next revolutionary model for insurance. Having said that, there are ways to increase the chances. It can be catalyzed through to two factors: improving the controllable and increasing the number of attempts to overcome the uncontrollable.
Hence the idea of InsurTechAsia was born to act as that very catalyst of insurance innovation.
– Connect startups with the best resources and partners for them to succeed, do that transparently and friction-less rather than trying to skim the value; Work with various stakeholders to remove any roadblocks, regulatory and otherwise.
– Bring together community that will actively collaborate, share and help its members to make it much bigger than a collection of its individual members.
– Encourage more startups to join the mission by building visibility around the opportunity while focusing the energy on the most high potential areas to maximize the impact.
Its early days and I’ve chosen to test the InsurTechAsia blue-print in Singapore prior to the wider roll-out across Asia. So far I’m very happy with the progress over the last three months. I’ve run three successful events with the last one drawing in more than 80 active attendees. We’ve grown to 200 members on LinkedIn and the level of engagement from startups and corporates both Singapore based and overseas have been very reassuring.
Next I’ll be launching InsurTechAsia across Asia to create a much broader action platform. If you know of anyone who’s active in the startup community or is very keen to help create action in the Insurtech space, please let me know as I’m looking for Chapter Leads across Asia.
BREXIT AND SINGENTER
The recent UK vote in favor of Brexit is an illustration of developed countries around the world struggling to find the balance between growth and social inclusion. This has a direct and real impact to the startups and is putting London’s position as a global financial services innovation hub at risk.
I have a strong feeling that we’ll see quite a few of London’s 1000+ Insurtech startups Brexit to greener pastures in the next year. Few will chose to move to Munich and Milan to maintain ability to sell to the whole EU and at the same time tap a cheaper team members. A large number of these startups will also start to look more actively East. With Asia being a growth region with a large under-insured and uninsured population, it’s a huge untapped opportunity.
Enter Singapore: Singenter
Singapore is a strong financial center and with its strategic location in Asia and political stability is looking more and more like an ideal location to tap the Asia opportunity (ex China). OK I admit, I might be slightly biased as I live here and absolutely love the place.
Alex Lin have summarized it brilliantly in his recent post: “Here’s why Singapore is the fintech gateway to Asia”
– Singapore, the ideal ecosystem, the gateway to Asia
– Support from the Government
– A nurturing ecosystem
In the highly timely context of highlighting innovation in Financial Services, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the central bank and financial services regulator announced Fintech Festival back in April. The primary objective of the festival is to reinforce Singapore as a global center of financial services innovation and at the same time cultivate the next wave of transformative startups.
The timing for it couldn’t have been better and it’s a fantastic opportunity for startups looking at tapping into Asia opportunity to match their innovative solutions to industry problems in this region. Its also a great chance to get acquainted with Singapore and find it if it’s a right location to be based out of.
Problem Statements are broad enough to cover majority of startup ideas and it also means that these are real problems with a ready industry customers waiting for these solutions. It’s a great way to connect with corporate customers in the spirit of building collaborative innovation.
SG Fintech Festival 14 insurance problem statements
I’m keen to hear from you if you are a startup that is tackling any of the insurance problems or know of any startups around the globe that have a solution for it. Festival submissions is by end of July.
Thanks for reading and as as always I’d love to hear your thoughts.

– George
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
George Kesselman – CEO and Co-founder of InsurTech Asia

Having worked at various departments in both life and general global insurers, with his last two roles being COO of AIG Indonesia and VP Claims Operations of AIG APAC — George Kesselman is a highly experienced global insurance executive with a strong track record of management and leadership across Asia. In his relentless passion and pursuit to transform insurance, George cofounded an industry-wide innovation ecosystem in Singapore. Through InsurTechAsia, he aims to effectively attract, cultivate and rapidly scale entrepreneurial ideas in insurance; and ultimately contribute to the next wave of global revolution in insurance.

InsurTechAsia: a community of insurance practitioners, entrepreneurs and industry stakeholders across Asia. We are building a strong insurance innovation ecosystem in Asia for entrepreneurs and industry stakeholders by creating opportunities where the right mindsets, skillsets, and networks will develop. Are you passionate about making a change to the insurance industry?
This article first appeared on Linkedin Pulse
Featured Image credit: Unsplash

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InsurTech

Grab Enables In-App Travel Insurance for As Low as $1 Per Day

									by Fintech News Singapore
January 13, 2020

Grab and Chubb announced today the launch of Travel Cover — an on-demand travel insurance service that Grab users can purchase within the app. The product is distributed by GrabInsure Insurance Agency, Grab Financial Group’s insurance platform.
Starting from today, a new insurance tile will be added on the Grab app, allowing Singapore-based customers to purchase Travel Cover from just S$2.50/day for travel to any destination globally.
The first 20,000 customers can purchase Travel Cover at a discounted price of just S$1/day till 29 February for trips within the Asia Pacific region. Travel Cover will be rolled out to other Grab markets in Southeast Asia in the coming months.

Scott Simpson, Country President of Chubb in Singapore said,
“Outbound travel from Singapore is thriving, reaching 10.4 million departures by air and sea in 20181. At the same time, smartphone users are projected to hit 4.65 million this year2. Our partnership with Grab allows us to develop more customer-centric insurance solutions that align with the varied lifestyles of consumers.”
Tom Duncan
Tom Duncan, Head of Insurance at Grab said,
“Our mission with GrabInsure is to provide access to affordable insurance products that better meet the everyday needs of Southeast Asians as we enter the consumer insurance market. Our customer research shows that many individuals were uninsured when they travel, and we are uniquely placed to address this gap. Travel Cover is an example of how we are leveraging GrabInsure’s platform to deliver innovative ‘on-demand’ insurance products. We are pleased to be working with Chubb as they share our vision to make insurance affordable and easily accessible. We will continue to work closely together to expand the product offering and address the differing consumer needs across the region.”

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InsurTech

Etiqa Introduces Vehicle Claims using Video Through E-Cleva

									by Fintech News Singapore
January 29, 2020

Etiqa announced today the launch of E-CLEVA which is short for Etiqa Claims Express Video Assist. The new video-assisted claims service allows for Etiqa’s motor surveyor to interact with the claimant directly and remotely via an audio-video call.
In their media statement, Etiqa stated that through this express service, turnaround time will be reduced by 80% and enables them to assess damages and approve claims within minutes.
The service experience starts with a two-way, real-time video call that enables the motor surveyor to view and assess any damage to a claimant’s windscreen or vehicle in detail – via E-CLEVA’s ability to utilise the claimant’s smartphone camera to zoom in, turn on the flashlight, take a photo or record a video of the damaged area.
While the smartphone’s gallery will be accessible by the surveyor, access is limited to only zooming and viewing the pictures taken through E-CLEVA, ensuring the privacy and security of the claimant’s gallery content.

Once the damage has been accessed, Etiqa’s motor surveyor can instantly calculate the cost of repair in a seamless process which will take no more than 30 minutes, from the early start of the call until the disbursement of money.
Shirley Tan
Shirley Tan, Head of Customer Experience & Propositions of Etiqa Insurance Singapore, has this to say,
“We are constantly innovating and looking for new ways to improve customer experience, as we believe it is vital that as an insurer, we are there for our customers and deliver on our Fast & Easy mantra especially in times of distress. We empathise with the tedious process motor claimants have to go through from the arranging of damage assessment to finally getting a quote and eventually starting repair work. E-CLEVA is a great example of Etiqa’s commitment to tap on new technologies to simplify processes and transform experiences for our customers.”
The insurer emphasises that E-CLEVA is established for minor and straightforward damages (involving own party) only, such as general bumps and scratches, cracks and broken parts. If the claimant has been in an accident where another party is involved, Etiqa will be processing it through its normal claims survey and assessment process.
The customer-centric digital insurer plans to increase the claims limit over time and extend the use of this video-enabled service to provide convenience to more customers in the near future, such as for minor home contents claims, subject to further review.

Featured image credit: Unsplash

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InsurTech

Report: Nine out of Ten Insurers Fear Losing Part of Their Business to Startups

									by Fintech News Singapore
July 12, 2016

Annual investments in insurtech ventures have increased fivefold over the past three year, reaching a cumulative US$3.4 billion since 2010. As investment and interest in insurtech increase, insurers are feeling increasingly threatened by the new innovative ventures that are applying cutting-edge technology to revamp the insurance business. A survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) found that 90% of insurers believe that at least part of their business is at risk to fintech.
According to Stephen O’Hearn, global insurance leader at PwC, “insurtech will be a game changer for those who choose to embrace it.” He urges the industry to start acting and embrace both the challenges and opportunities offered by insurtech.
“Those who are savvy enough to address the ongoing disruption sooner rather than later will reap the benefits and emerge as market leaders,” O’Hearn said in a statement.
PwC, which surveyed management from 79 insurance and startup companies across the world to understand how the industry is responding to the rise of insurtech, compiled the findings into a report entitled ‘Opportunities await: How insurtech is reshaping insurance.’

Insurance companies are well aware of the digital revolution, with 74% of respondents seeing fintech and insurtech innovations as a challenge for their industry. However, results show a disconnection between the amount of disruption perceived and insurers’ willingness to harness technology. While 43% of insurers said they have fintech at the heart of their corporate strategy, only 28% are reacting consequently by partnering with fintech ventures and less than 14% are activity participating in ventures or incubator programs.

Insurers said that the top threats related to the rise of insurtechs are pressure on margins (70%), loss of market share (65%), information security and privacy threat (60%), and increase of customer churn (58%).
That said, the rise of insurtech also brings a number of opportunities for incumbents and the industry as the whole. Respondents named the top opportunities as being cost reduction (80%), differentiation (60%), improved retention of customers (60%) and additional revenues (58%).
And yet, the insurance sector has not worked out a consistent approach to disruption, the firm claims. “Now is the time for executives to think forward, put innovation at the heart of their strategies and define to what extent they want to participate in the insurtech ecosystem,” the report says.
PwC points out four steps insurance companies can take to harness the rise of insurtech:

Explore and monitor new trends and innovations by establishing, for instance, a presence in innovation hubs;
Partner with startups and build pilot solutions to test in the market;
Get involved in startup programs such as incubators, mechanisms to fund companies, and strategic acquisitions;
Refine and redefine product portfolio strategy accordingly to changing clients needs and expectations.

Urging for more collaboration between corporates and startups, Jonathan Howe, UK insurance leader at PwC, said in a statement:
“The differences between start-ups and incumbents should be embraced as both are vital to the future of the industry. If the long-term mindset and experience of insurance companies can successfully be partnered with the creativity and agility of start-up companies, the industry as a whole will make progress in solving problems and bringing truly innovative products to market.”
Although insurtech in Asia is still in its infancy, interest in the sector has surged in recent years. Countries like Singapore are now home to innovative solutions and industry initiatives aimed at fostering development in the field.
This includes Aviva’s ‘Digital Garage,’ which aims at helping the insurance company to develop new innovative solutions, Fitsense, an app that helps you reduce your insurance premiums if you accept wearing physical wearables, and Claim Di, an app that simplifies the auto accident claims process.

Featured image by Ollyy, via Shutterstock.com.

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Advertorial
Regtech

How MyInfo Revolutionized Verification Process in Singapore

									by Fintech News Singapore
February 21, 2020

MyInfo made verification process easier than ever for the citizens of Singapore and thanks to BASIS ID every FinTech can now integrate this service into its platform.
Know Your Customer or simply KYC remains one of the biggest pains for FinTech companies. On the one hand, Due Diligence has tremendous benefits. It prevents money laundering, financial scams and other fraudulent activity. On the other hand, it scares many customers off. Imagine it yourself. Let’s say you wanted to take a quick loan but instead of “quick” you are required to:

Enter your demographic data;
Scan your documents;
Do a video check (and sometimes a liveness check);
Provide a proof of address;
Wait until compliance officers or algorithms have validated your data.

Even those who trust KYC providers still get tired of repeating this process again and again for different organizations. Many startups have tried making the onboarding process as seamless as possible but Singapore’s government made a drastic improvement in personal data management by launching MyInfo in 2016. This has given its citizens a new way to go through the verification process.
What is MyInfo?
MyInfo is a solution designed by the Singaporean government that allows its citizens and permanent residents to store and manage their personal data. Users can enter the platform and give their consent to share their personal data, which is pulled from different governmental databases. After doing that, they will have an option to use MyInfo to populate forms with data while going through the onboarding process.

It means that people who use MyInfo will never have to answer boring questions while taking loans, opening bank accounts or using other FinTech services. Moreover, they will not need to scan their documents or go through a liveness check during the onboarding process. MyInfo’s data is also more secure and reliable as it is government-verified, making this verification method superior to others.
Why Would FinTechs Want to Integrate MyInfo?
Originally MyInfo was created to facilitate governmental services, however, in 2017 MyInfo Developer & Partner Portal was launched. It is a part of the National Digital Identity (NDI) ecosystem, which helps businesses integrate MyInfo into their digital solutions.
Before the launch of MyInfo Developer & Partner Portal, it was tested on 4 banks:

United Overseas Bank (UOB),
Development Bank of Singapore (DBS),
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC),
Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart).

On average MyInfo integration reduced the time users spend on the application process by 80%. Furthermore, the approval rate increased by 15% thanks to the superb data quality of MyInfo platform.
Government Chief Information Officer Chan Cheow Hoe commented: “With MyInfo made available to a wider range of business transactions, we can help remove the need to verify documents, and even reduce time spent on face-to-face meetings. This significantly improves business efficiency as companies can onboard their customers faster.”
What’s the best way to integrate MyInfo?
The easiest way to integrate MyInfo into a platform is to use BASIS ID solution. BASIS ID is the first eKYC provider that has integrated MyInfo into their verification workflow.
Why is it so amazing?
Integration of the BASIS ID customer onboarding software with MyInfo workflow is performed via a web-and-mobile friendly widget and can be completed in minutes.
Users who are from Singapore can choose to use MyInfo instead of filling out the form, taking pictures of their documents and doing the video check. It saves a lot of time for users while still giving them an option to go through the KYC process manually or to edit necessary fields.
Here’s how it looks like:

via GIPHY
First, users need to select their language. After that, they are immediately offered 2 ways to complete the KYC process. If they choose MyInfo method, then they get redirected to SingPass platform, where they will need to log in and consent to share their data. Then users have an opportunity to check their data inside the BASIS ID widget. There they also can edit their data and if it needs to be verified, BASIS ID will ask for all the necessary proof, be that an ID, phone confirmation or a bank statement. This ensures flexibility for a user as well as the credibility of the data.
MyInfo has revolutionized verification process in Singapore, while BASIS ID made it accessible for everyone.
Singapore is the first nation, which enabled businesses to access personal data of its citizens. We hope that this will not be an exception and we will see a trend, where more and more countries create similar systems. This will boost the development of banks and FinTechs as well as significantly reduce fraudulent activity among the citizens.

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Open Banking
Studies

Singapore Leads Asia Pacific in Open Banking

									by Fintech News Singapore
February 28, 2020

    3

In its Open Banking APAC report, released earlier this month, the EPAA provides an overview of developments in the region and shares findings from a survey of industry participants and experts from APAC.
Unlike the regulator-led approach in the European Union (EU), the approaches to open banking in Asia-Pacific (APAC) have been more diverse with development and adoption varying greatly between countries across the region, according to a new report by the Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA), an pan-Asian payments association.
According to the report, like in the rest of the world, open banking has arrived in APAC but in the region, some governments have been more proactive than others in establishing a solid foundation for full deployment of open banking.

Open banking in APAC
APAC has seen significant innovations and developments in open banking over the past years, driven by socioeconomic developments and rapid uptake on new consumer technologies, the report says. But strategies vary across countries and there will need to be interoperability in order for the industry to take full advantage of open banking.
The report cites the case of India, Thailand and Australia, which have adopted a prescriptive approach where governments and central banks are playing a highly active role in defining the open banking ecosystem. Often times, in these jurisdictions, banks are required to share customer-permissioned data and third parties that want to access such data are required to register with particular regulatory or supervisory authorities to do so, it says.
Other markets such as Japan and Hong Kong, have adopted a facilitative approach where an industry standard-setter or government agency issues guidance and recommended standards and/or releases open API standards and technical specifications. Banks and third parties are not obliged to comply but may do so if they choose.
Meanwhile, China, Singapore and South Korea have taken more market-driven approaches where there are no explicit industry-wide rules or guidance that require or prohibit the sharing of customer-permissioned data by banks with third parties. In this approach, banks may choose to release their own APIs.
Open Banking APAC, The Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA), February 2020

Singapore: APAC’s open banking leader
The report delves into the case of Singapore, which it says has been an early adopter and leader of open banking and APIs in the region.
In Singapore, development of open banking has been facilitated by regulators, and in particular, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which has, among other initiatives, provided open banking/APIs guidelines, set out a framework, and which currently operates the Financial Industry API Register, which tracks APIs by functional category as they are launched.
In Australia, open banking has been monitored through the implementation of the Consumer Data Right (CDR) and the country’s four biggest banks are required to comply by releasing data APIs for the first set of account types by July 1, 2020.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong launched the Open API Framework in July 2018 which sets out a four phase process for open banking adoption, and Indian authorities have endorsed a two-phase development of open banking.
Open Banking development and adoption across APAC, Open Banking APAC, The Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA), February 2020

Need for interoperability
The disparate strategies across the region are posing difficulties in establishing an open banking regulatory infrastructure that will allow for interoperability across APAC, the report says.
In order for open banking to rapidly scale financial inclusion and enable a new wave of financial innovation, governments in the region must progress regulatory initiatives to allow open banking to be interoperable, both domestically and cross-border, it advises.

Other findings
According to the study, amongst 51 markets in APAC, only 27 markets are involved in open banking somehow while the remaining 24 countries have adopted different approaches.
Open Banking across APAC, Open Banking APAC, The Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA), February 2020
The EPAA, which conducted a survey in 2019 of over 100 industry experts and professionals, found that industry participants believe that open bank will bring value to the payments industry (75%), and that in order to realize the full potential of open banking, interoperability is needed.
Over half (53%) of survey respondents indicated that interoperability in open banking in the same country is very important, and a similar portion (45%) considers interoperability in open banking across borders to be very important.

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InsurTech

Symbo Announced As Singapore’s Winner of Zurich’s Innovation Challenge

									by Fintech News Singapore
March 5, 2020

Zurich Singapore has crowned Symbo the winner of the Zurich Innovation Championship 2020 – Singapore Round.
Symbo’s winning pitch revolves around a digital insurance pilot for the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) segment. The pilot features a full technology-stack solution to streamline the insurance lifecycle from end-to-end. SMEs will enjoy a seamless digital experience from customer onboarding to claims.
Reginald Peacock
Mr. Reginald Peacock, CEO of Zurich Singapore, said:
“As a global organization with more than a century behind us, innovation is a big part of Zurich Group’s strategy in evolving – delivering better products, services and customer care. We are excited to work with partners, such as Symbo, who bring fresh ideas into the insurance industry.”
Symbo, a Singapore-based InsurTech start-up, was selected as the 2020 local winner of the global Zurich Innovation Championship (ZIC) from close to 40 applicants, by a panel comprising senior business leaders and innovation experts from Zurich.

Now in its second year, the ZIC brings together start-ups and innovators across the globe to tackle challenges expected to impact the next generation – climate, health, automation and others – and build a more sustainable tomorrow.
Laurens Koppelaar
“Zurich takes innovation seriously and it’s been fantastic to see the calibre of thinking and innovation showcased in the competition. We’re extremely pleased to have been selected as this year’s Singapore Champion and given an opportunity to partner Zurich to co-create solutions for an underserved SME space,”
said Symbo’s Singapore CEO and Head of International, Mr. Laurens Koppelaar.
Symbo will go on to pitch in the ZIC’s regional round in Asia Pacific in June 2020, following which regional finalists would compete in the global finals in August 2020. The global winner will have the opportunity to make their products and services available to Zurich customers in selected countries and regions.

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InsurTech

Digital Insurer FWD Appoints Khor Kee Eng as Singapore CEO

									by Fintech News Singapore
March 9, 2020

FWD Group (“FWD”)  announced the appointment of Khor Kee Eng as CEO of FWD Singapore, subject to regulatory approval.
Kee will helm the development of FWD Singapore to strengthen the Group’s position as a digital insurer. Kee will report to the Board of Directors for FWD Singapore. He succeeds previous FWD Singapore CEO Abhishek Bhatia, who will transition to a new Group role as Chief Officer of New Business Models at FWD to focus on growing the digital direct-to-consumer business across the company as well as enhancing the structuring and execution of FWD’s digital partnerships and investments.
Rob Schimek
Rob Schimek, FWD Group Chief Commercial Officer said,
“Kee’s appointment is a testament to the strong pool of talent we have across our organisation. We’re well-positioned to drive our next phase of growth in Singapore and continue building on our strong momentum here to change the way people feel about insurance.”
Khor Kee Eng
Kee added,

“I’m honoured to be given the opportunity to lead our innovative, dynamic team as FWD Singapore CEO. I’ll be working closely with the team to build upon our digital capabilities and continue enhancing our market-leading customer experience that we’re all so proud of here in Singapore.”
Kee joined as FWD Singapore Chief Financial Officer in March 2019 from Malaysia’s Tune Protect Group, where he was Group Chief Actuary.

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InsurTech

HK-Based AMTD Acquires Insurtech Startup PolicyPal

									by Fintech News Singapore
March 17, 2020

AMTD Digital, the digital finance arm of AMTD Group announced that it will acquire a controlling stake of PolicyPal, a company licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the first graduate of MAS fintech regulatory sandbox, which deepens the company’s plan to build a Southeast Asian Fintech platform headquartered in Singapore. This acquisition is pending approval by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
After the acquisition, PolicyPal will become a member company under AMTD Digital, and using its digital insurance broker license granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, as well as acting as AMTD Digital’s operating vehicle to develop and expand in the Southeast Asia insurtech sector, and in collaboration with AMTD’s insurance brokerage company – AMTD Risk Solution.

AMTD Digital is the integrated digital finance platform arm of AMTD Group, covering four segments including digital finance licenses, smart data analytic, digital alliance ecosystem, and digital strategic investments. AMTD Digital strives to build a one-stop, cross-market, comprehensive digital financial services platform to serve Asian consumers and small and medium- sized enterprises, integrating digital banking, digital insurance, digital asset exchange, e-payment, remittance, and other licensed businesses in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.
In 2019, AMTD together with Xiaomi established Airstar Bank and had successfully obtained one of the first eight virtual banking licenses issued by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and will be launching its services to the general public soon; AMTD is also teaming up with SP Group, one of Singapore’s largest corporations, Xiaomi, and Funding Societies to jointly apply for the Singapore digital wholesale banking license. The group is also currently seeking to apply for a virtual banking license in Malaysia.

PolicyPal is the first graduate of fintech regulatory sandbox approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. According to their press statement PolicyPal works with 30 global insurance companies, with $3 billion sum assured coverage on their platform.

Calvin Choi, AMTD Group’s Chairman and CEO, AMTD Digital’s Chairman said his vision for AMTD Digital is that through establishing awide-open strategic partnership and alliance ecosystem, the company can create the most innovative and comprehensive digital financial platform without any ceiling. He is confident that these growing corporate customers will continue to enrich the company’s alliance ecosystem, and become the most valuable resources with lots of values to unlock in future out of this digital financial platform.

Featured image: Calvin Choi, Chairman and CEO of AMTD Group (middle), Val Yap, Founder and CEO (right), and Wong Kai Chin, CTO (left) of PolicyPal

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InsurTech

Insurance Sector Reinvents Itself Leading To Drastic Measures

									by Fintech News Singapore
July 15, 2016

Majority of insurers admit challenges extracting value from transformation initiatives; most say their transformation efforts have been less than ideal.
Faced with disruptive economic, demographic and technological change, most insurers are struggling to reinvent their organisations for the future. According to Empowered for the future: Insurance reinvented, a report released today by KPMG International, only half of the insurers polled believe they are capable of extracting and sustaining value from business transformation initiatives. Fifty-seven percent admitted that their transformation efforts to date have been less than ideal.
“Insurers have been trying to ‘transform’ their organisations for decades– yet very little has actually changed,” notes Ms Mary Trussell, KPMG Global Lead Partner for Insurance Innovation & Change and lead author of the report. “If insurers are to truly ‘reinvent’ their business and position themselves for success in a world of disruptive innovation – they will need to make more fundamental changes to their business and operating models than ever before.”
The report was launched during the International Insurance Society’s Global Insurance Forum 2016 in Singapore where industry leaders and executives gathered to discuss innovation and industry transformation.

Putting the customer first
According to the KPMG report, insurance executives clearly understand the urgent need for transformation. However, it finds many insurers are more focused on the implications of regulatory policy and may not be placing enough attention on changes in customer preferences and needs. Less than a quarter of respondents expect their operating model to be disrupted by changes in customer behaviour.
“As customers become more educated and sophisticated, their expectations of how they want insurance services and products to be delivered will change,” says Mr Lau Kam Yuen, head of insurance at KPMG in Singapore. “Insurers will need to bear that in mind to look at how their offerings can be more customer-centric.”
Strengths to build from
It’s a given that many insurers possess the skills and capabilities required to bring about incremental change in their organisation. More than half (53 percent) said they were capable of achieving short-term transformation wins.
But there is a big difference in achieving a sustainable transformational outcome, finds the report. “When it comes to enterprise-wide strategic change – the type that truly leads to companies being reinvented – it takes a much broader view and a much more strategic approach than most insurers have needed for past initiatives,” says Mr Gary Reader, Global Head of Insurance, KPMG International.
Applying technology to transformation
The report finds that insurance executives increasingly view technology as a catalyst for change. Forty-seven percent said that new mobile platforms and apps were forcing change in their business and creating new opportunities for transformation. Forty-five percent said the same about social networking and collaboration and 41 percent said the same about data and analytics.
“In some cases, technology can act as a catalyst as the introduction of telematics did for usage based insurance — you can’t let technology drive the bus, but you also don’t want it to overtake you,” notes Ms Trussell.
Looking for new ideas
Around a third of respondents to the KPMG survey noted that they were watching organisations outside of the insurance sector, and those with disruptive technologies in order to find inspiration to help them reinvent their organisations. The report finds that insurers are increasingly taking ideas, approaches and even talent from other sectors to help improve their effectiveness.
“It is heartening that insurers are facing the challenge head-on by proactively seeking new ways of doing business, including working with fintech start-ups,” adds Mr Lau. “This will enable them to compete effectively for consumers, who are increasingly more tech-savvy.”
Featured Image: via kpmg.com

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Mobile Payments
Open Banking

Open Banking Platform Railsbank Sees Strategic Investments from Visa

									by Fintech News Singapore
April 9, 2020

After raising US$ 10 million and expanding to Singapore, the open banking platform Railsbank announced today that it has received yet another round of investments from Visa and Global Brain, a Tokyo-based VC firm. The sum of the investment was not disclosed.
Railsbank also announces that it has signed a partnership with Visa to deliver Banking as a Service (BaaS) innovation in Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand, and recently became a Visa issuing member in Singapore.
Being a Visa member and by joining Visa’s Fintech Fast Track Programme, Railsbank can now access Visa’s growing partner network, technologies and experts, enabling Railsbank’s customers to rapidly and effectively launch Visa-based products throughout Asia and beyond.
Nigel Verdon, co-founder and CEO of Railsbank, said:

Nigel Verdon
“I am delighted that in this period of worldwide economic uncertainty, we have some good news in welcoming two more renowned investors into the Railsbank family and announcing our partnership with Visa in Asia Pacific. The whole Railsbank team looks forward to working with them closely over the coming years. We will be welcoming more investors shortly.”
As for Visa and Railsbank working even closer in Asia, Nigel Verdon, added:
“I personally moved to live in Singapore to open our regional head office here so we can offer our unique platform to a far wider audience and be an enabler of financial inclusion, which is one of the core principles my co-founder Clive Mitchell and I setup Railsbank to achieve. Our partnership with Visa signals our intent to be the most innovative banking platform business in Asia-Pacific. Our API focussed platform is the simplest way for any business or brand to quickly conceptualise, build and launch digital finance products that easily incorporate Visa’s product suite and capabilities.
“We consider this a major breakthrough for regional companies and brands who are ready to build and launch a whole range of exciting and innovative products. We provide all the necessary tools to help jumpstart and sustain a truly exciting financial services ecosystem. Our goal is to enable any business, or brand, to be a FinTech.”
Railsbank’s most recent collaboration with Visa was the launch of a major new financial product in Singapore, the Singlife Account.The Singlife Account is a first for insurers in the region and uniquely comes with a Visa debit card so customers can access their money anytime. Singlife also participated in Railsbank’s previous fund raising round as well.
Naoki Kamimaeda
Naoki Kamimaeda, Partner and Europe Office Representative of Global Brain Corporation, said:
“We see huge potential in Railsbank’s vision and open banking platform. Corporates, especially in Asia, are more willing to have banking services and Railsbank can provide them with a turnkey solution for this. We are very excited to join Railsbank’s bold vision and look forward to actively supporting its expansion and penetration in Japan and Asia.”
Railsbank is headquartered in London and has offices in Singapore, Lithuania, the Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

Featured image credit: Railsbank

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Regtech

Vizor Software and Wolters Kluwer Announces Regtech Partnership in Singapore

									by Fintech News Singapore
April 14, 2020

Vizor Software and Wolters Kluwer’s Finance, Risk & Reporting (FRR) business today announced a partnership for the Singapore market that will increase the quality of regulatory reporting while reducing the time and effort required in regulatory compliance.
Using the Vizor Reporting API, Wolters Kluwer’s OneSumX for Regulatory Reporting will now automatically consume published machine-readable regulatory rules and data models directly from Singapore’s regulatory system.
OneSumX for Regulatory Reporting will automatically integrate these specifications into its Financial Institution (FI) template solutions. This seamless alignment between the regulator and financial institution systems will facilitate an on-time and high-quality submission of regulatory reports, while also reducing the cost and effort associated with new or changing reporting requirements.
OneSumX for Regulatory Reporting combines bank data into a single source of data to ensure consistency, ease of reconciliation and accuracy. It includes access to Wolters Kluwer’s unique Regulatory Update Service which is maintained by Wolters Kluwer experts who actively monitor regulation in 30 countries.

In July 2019 Wolters Kluwer announced the launch of its software-as-a-service (SaaS) Regulatory Reporting solution, marking the first time that the company’s OneSumX regulatory software has been made available on the cloud.
Conor Crowley
“While much has been written about the need to reduce the burden of regulatory reporting, the global standardization required for full, cross-border automation does not yet exist. We recognize that regulators require a wide variety and increasingly granular level of jurisdiction-specific data to deal with emerging risks. Regulators using our platform are able to dynamically define data requests and rules in an open, standardized format,”
said Conor Crowley, CEO of Vizor Software.
“However, this increased volume of data requests from the regulator poses problems when FI systems also require changes to respond. APIs provide machine-to-machine communication so that both FIs and the regulator can layer automation onto their existing processes and technology investments.”
This level of integration allows global and domestic FIs in Singapore to accommodate local requests in a timely and cost-efficient manner. By leveraging the same software as the Singapore regulator through the Vizor Software platform, the preparation and validation of regulatory data becomes more of a machine-to-machine task and both financial institutions and regulators can instead focus on data analysis and risk management.
Claudio Salinardi
“This partnership will redefine the regulatory compliance landscape in Singapore. Wolters Kluwer is the global market leader in producing regulatory reports for financial institutions, while Vizor is the global market leader in collecting and processing these regulatory reports on behalf of regulators. Together, the two companies are able to provide an integrated solution out-of-the-box which brings end-to-end regulatory compliance within the financial industry to the next level,”
commented Claudio Salinardi, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Wolters Kluwer FRR.
“Beyond the immediate benefits for financial institutions such as superior time-to-market, this also opens the door to many new value-added services down the road, all directly integrated with regulators. Notably, this partnership will provide a solution in time to help our clients meet the revised MAS610 requirements recently introduced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.”
Vizor Software helps regulators to make clear data models and rules publicly available in both machine and human-readable format to all reporting FIs and vendors. The partnership with Wolters Kluwer and the full integration in the OneSumX platform allows customers to collect, validate and refine data in synchronization with the financial services community.
ZA Bank, the first virtual bank in Hong Kong, has chosen Wolters Kluwer’s OneSumX for Regulatory Reporting as its regulatory reporting software.

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InsurTech

Insurtech Axinan Rebrands To Igloo After Closing Series A+ Round

									by Fintech News Singapore
April 24, 2020

Singapore-headquartered insurtech startup – Igloo (previously known as “Axinan”), announced today that it has successfully closed its Series A+ funding round, bringing its total funding to US$16 million.
The insurtech firm works with leading e-commerce and travel players in Southeast Asia including Bhinneka, Bukalapak, Lazada, RedDoorz, Shippit, and Shopee, as well as regional insurance partners Allianz, Baoviet, FWD Singapore, Mercantile, and Sompo. Since the company was founded in 2016, Igloo said that its insurance products have already benefitted over 15 million customers, effectively protecting over 50 million transactions in the past year (February 2019 to February 2020). The categories include electronics, home, personal accident and travel.
The company has formally rebranded to “Igloo” from April 2020, across its current markets in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Australia.
Igloo’s Series A+ funding round was led by InVent, the corporate venture capital arm of Intouch Holdings PLC (SET: INTUCH), an asset management and investment company serving the telecommunications, media, and technology sectors. Intouch Holdings is also known as the parent company of Advanced Info Services PLC (AIS) and Thaicom PLC, which focuses on investing in new emerging businesses and tech startups. Igloo’s existing investors Openspace Ventures, a venture capital fund that invests in Southeast Asia, and Linear Capital, a Shanghai-based early-stage venture capital firm focusing on tech-driven startups, also participated in this round. Other new investors include Singtel Innov8, Cathay Innovation, and Partech Partners.

Igloo was founded by Mr. Wei Zhu, who was previously the Chief Technology Officer of Grab. Mr. Wei has over 20 years of technology leadership positions, including in companies such as Facebook and Microsoft. He founded Igloo so that everyone, regardless of their economic background, can protect the things and activities that matter to them with highly customised insurance offerings.
Wei Zhu
“With COVID-19 impacting every facet of personal life and business, digitisation can help the world adjust to the new normal. This is especially apparent in insurance, where we can tap on digital channels for distribution and also for creating awareness,”
said Mr Wei Zhu, Founder and CEO of Igloo.
“We see that digital insurance is on the rise in Southeast Asia, and we believe that Igloo, with our digital-first approach and expansion of our product portfolio into personal health, accident and other related products can help fill those gaps and address consumers’ needs for personal well-being,”
he added.
Narongpon Boonsongpaisan
Dr Narongpon Boonsongpaisan, Head of InVent by Intouch Holdings, shared,
“We are extremely excited to welcome Igloo as the first insurtech in our portfolio. Insurtech companies are at the forefront of driving digital transformation in the digital industry, creating innovative products to serve millennials better. We believe that Igloo’s advanced tech stack can drive real change in the industry and bring the focus back to consumers’ needs.”

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Indonesia
InsurTech

Insurtech Qoala Raises US$ 13.5 Million Despite COVID-19 Funding Slump

									by Fintech News Indonesia
April 28, 2020

Qoala an insurtech headquarted out of Jakarta, today announced its successful US$13.5 million Series A fundraise. The round was led by Centauri Fund – a JV between funds from South Korea’s Kookmin Bank and Telkom Indonesia.
New investors in the round included Sequoia India, Flourish Ventures, Kookmin Bank Investments, Mirae Asset Venture Investment and Mirae Asset Sekuritas, with participation from existing investors, MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia, MDI Ventures, Surge, SeedPlus and Bank Central Asia’s Central Capital Ventura.

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This fundraising round is happening amid a global slowdown of fintech deals, Qoala is the second South East Asia based insurtech startup to have raised a significant amount this month following Axinan who raised US$ 16 Million and rebranded itself to Igloo.
In its media statement, Qoala said their vision is to provide customers with a multi-channel insurance solution. The company shared that it has two business models; to drive awareness to underinsured Indonesians by working with large scale platforms, and to be a digital enabler for agents and brokers.

Qoala is hiring across teams as the business looks to build on its exponential growth, with plans to double its headcount to 300 over the next year.
Harshet Lunani
Harshet Lunani, Founder and CEO at Qoala, said:
“As a relatively new entrant in the space we are delighted to partner with leading global investors whose tremendous thought leadership as well as operational experience will allow us to maintain our innovative edge. This truly demonstrates the ecosystem’s belief in what Qoala is trying to achieve – humanizing insurance and making it accessible and affordable to all.”

Just over a year after launch, Qoala said that it has processed over 2 million policies per month, up from 7,000 policies in March 2019, and has diversified its partnership portfolio to serve five core industries: travel, fintech, consumables, logistics, and employee benefits.
Tommy Martin
“The funding will allow us to invest further into technology, people and brand to fuel our multi-channel strategy, enabling us to better serve our customers, platform partners, and insurers. In particular, during the present crisis we are seeing an increased demand for innovative and scalable services to support the industry as physical contact restrictions are impacting traditional offline sales of insurance. We have also accelerated our new COVID offerings for consumers and MSMEs across Indonesia to provide pay-outs to those affected by the pandemic, including those who have had their treatment partially or fully subsidized by the government and are hence ineligible per usual insurance plans. We will roll this out on a larger scale within the next 4 weeks ”,
added Tommy Martin, Co-founder of Qoala.

The startup has a number of partnerships with prominent brands across Indonesia, including GrabKios, JD.ID, Shopee and Tokopedia. Qoala’s customers also include other industry leading digital platforms such as Investree, PegiPegi and RedBus, as well as traditional giants such as MAP Group. Their unique go-to-market approach is supported by over 20 insurers including global players such as AXA Mandiri, Tokio Marine, Great Eastern as well as local insurers like ACA, Adira and BRI Life.
Featured image: Tommy Martin and Harshet Lunani, Founder – Qoala

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Regtech

BIS Innovation Hub Singapore Calls for Regtech Solutions for Regulatory and Supervisory Challenges

									by Company Announcement
April 30, 2020

The Saudi G20 Presidency and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub today launched the G20 TechSprint Initiative to highlight the potential for new technologies to resolve regulatory compliance (RegTech) and supervision (SupTech) challenges.
The BIS Innovation Hub, through its Singapore Centre, and the Saudi G20 Presidency have published high-priority RegTech/SupTech operational problems and invite private firms to develop innovative technological solutions. The problem statements identify challenges in regulatory reporting, analytics, and monitoring and supervision, and have been developed from submissions received from Financial Stability Board (FSB) member jurisdictions.
The hackathon-style competition is also supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the FSB, API Exchange (APIX), and the RegTech for Regulators Accelerator (R2A).
“TechSprint encapsulates one of the core principles of the BIS Innovation Hub, which is to develop public goods in the technology space to enhance the functioning of the global financial system,” said Benoît Cœuré, Head of the BIS Innovation Hub.

Commenting on the launch from the Saudi G20 presidency, the Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, Ahmed Alkholifey, said:
Ahmed Alkholifey
“Alongside the BIS Innovation Hub, we look to the global fintech community to help mobilize effective solutions to pressing financial regulatory and supervisory challenges, including by supporting regulatory and supervisory responses against the COVID-19 pandemic.”
He added:
“The G20 TechSprint Initiative will support the efforts of supervisors and regulators in reaping the benefits of technology to ensure that the global financial system continues to support households and businesses.”
Interested private firms can compete and develop innovative solutions to these problems using the cloud-based APIX platform that facilitates registration, prototype building and online judging of submissions. It will also enable solution providers to utilise a custom-built environment to integrate APIs to build and deploy prototypes for solving the challenge statements.
“The APIX cloud-based innovation platform will facilitate a state-of-the-art remote hackathon that will help propel rapid innovation in the regulatory and supervisory space to benefit central banks, supervisory authorities and financial institutions around the world,”
said MAS Chief Fintech Officer, Sopnendu Mohanty.

Featured image: BIS Building

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InsurTech

Insurtech Raising Plummets by 50% in Q1 2020 — Report Suggest COVID-19 As a Cause

									by Fintech News Singapore
May 5, 2020

Despite the clear impact of COVID-19 on InsurTech investment worldwide during Q1, insurtechs saw a decline in funds raised compared to 2019.
Insurtechs raised a total of US$912 million during the first three months of 2020, according to the new Quarterly InsurTech Briefing from Willis Towers Watson, a global advisory, broking and solutions company.
Deal count, at 96, was up 28% over Q4 2019, 10% more than the first quarter of that year. It is the highest number of investment rounds by transactional volume ever recorded by the Quarterly InsurTech Briefing.
Overall total funding was down by 54%, however, reflecting in part far fewer ‘mega-deals’ (US$100 million-plus deals) taking place in the year so far. In 2019, multiple unicorn-making rounds supported eight out of the ten InsurTech firms valued at over a billion US$ (giving five of them unicorn status in the process).

This most recent quarter, however, included no unicorn making rounds and only observed one mega-round — the US$100 million Series D issue by PolicyGenius.
Running total of funding decelerates/Total funding: US$911.53 million ; image via Willis Towers Watson
Seed and Series A financing was down 9% from the previous quarter, at US$223 million, but early-stage deal count rose three percentage points to 51% of all deals; as a percentage of all funding, early-stage deal investment was up 12 percentage points.
InsurTechs focused on property and casualty (P&C) insurance increased their share of total funding to 83%, the largest gap with life and health funding since Q3 2016. B2B-focused companies accounted for 55% of recorded deals in Q1 2020, a 121% increase from Q4 2019. The value of strategic investments by (re)insurers fell 8% from Q4 2019 and 43% from its highest point, reached in Q3 2019.
Andrew Johnston
Dr. Andrew Johnston, global head of InsurTech at Willis Re, said:
“This has been a particularly interesting quarter for global InsurTech. It is clear that COVID-19 has had a material impact on later-stage investments, and (re)insurers are holding back. Despite the very large percentage drop this quarter when compared with the last, we are still seeing a huge amount of activity in early-stage funding rounds, across a very large number of deals. The relative downturn of (re)insurer participation in this round would explain why we have seen fewer megadeals, affecting the overall amount raised significantly, which is not surprising as (re)insurers increasingly participate in later stages. Again, COVID-19 is a likely culprit for less engagement from industry capital as (re)insurers focus their attention on other, perhaps more pressing issues.”

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InsurTech

CXA Group Sees Investment from HSBC in New Funding Round

									by Fintech News Singapore
May 13, 2020

CXA, an employee ecosystem platform for better health, wealth and wellness choices, announced today that it has raised fresh funding from Humanica, a Thai-based HR solutions provider, and HSBC Life, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC.
With this latest capital injection, Humanica, in particular, has doubled its investment in CXA as a continuation of last year’s convertible note bridge financing. CXA achieved revenue growth of 50 percent in 2019 and the start-up had previously raised US$58 million in total funding from Series A, Series B, and a convertible note round in 2015, 2017 and 2019, respectively.
In addition to the funding, CXA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Humanica to integrate its Human Capital Management platform with CXA’s platform in Thailand.
This story follows news of layoffs happening just last month which saw a dozen employees losing their jobs.

Rosaline Chow Koo
Rosaline Chow Koo, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, CXA Group, said:
“The follow-on investment reflects Humanica and HSBC Life’s confidence in CXA’s long-term growth opportunity. It also further backs our unique ability to shift healthcare spend from treatment to prevention, while keeping costs under control.
We continue to see overwhelming interest from strategic investors who are excited to work with us to advance our vision of enabling healthier living across Asia and will have more developments to announce in the coming months.”

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Big Data
Open Banking

Unlocking the Value in Payments Data With Technology and Partnerships

									by Wissam Khoury, Finastra
May 14, 2020

Over the years, banks have been creating exponentially growing mountains of data – much of it with huge potential value. However, despite their ability to create it, banks have not always been good at making the best use of it. Now, as pressure mounts from digitally native challengers – many of which are backed by tech companies for whom data is second nature – banks need to find ways to turn potential value into something meaningful.
This issue is particularly acute in Asia Pacific’s payments space. Demand for fast payments combined with great user experience is being driven by a growing number of digital payments companies. These players have benefitted from a range of factors. Previously, customer service and customer experience were not a priority for big banks, while APAC’s high rates of mobile penetration rates have meant most consumers already have the tools to make digital payments at their fingertips. In Southeast Asia, companies have been able to acquire high numbers of unbanked or underbanked customers – a demographic previously ignored by incumbents.
Banks via Pexels
Despite this, big banks do have a certain advantage over their challengers – their size means they process millions of payments each day and have access to the resulting data. However, extracting and using that data can be a problem, partly because of the manual decision-making processes many still use. In a real-time environment, such an outdated procedure is not sustainable.
Because of this, many banks are missing out on the ability to use payment data in a proactive way, to make smart decisions that inform actionable insights and create competitive advantages that allow them to become data-driven organizations.
Become a data-driven organization
Fortunately for the incumbents, technology can change this. Just as digital challengers are leveraging advances such as cloud and Artificial Intelligence (AI), so can they. These technologies enable banks to automate their data analysis and make customer and payment data available to more people across the business, who can then make smarter decisions about how processes can be optimized and tailor services to meet customer needs. The introduction of new technologies, such as cloud to reach different data points across the data framework, plus machine learning or artificial intelligence to process that data in real-time, will enable banks to transform.

Data will enable banks to develop new business models with smart combinations of products and tailor-made services for specific customers. This is the approach being taken by Singapore’s DBS, which announced last year it was looking at ways to utilize its rich customer data to improve its PayLah! digital payments wallet. Measures included adding more merchants to its ecosystem, integrating its rewards app, and one executive even suggested the possibility of using analytics and location data in the future to offer relevant discounts to customers while they are out shopping.
PayLah by DBS Bank
Access to – and intelligent analysis of – the right data is key, but banks do not need to bear the expense and time investment required to develop this capability themselves. By sharing their data with fintech partners through open APIs using the Open Banking model, banks can benefit from collaboration with an endless array of external service providers that can help them create an innovative, fast, seamless payments experience, as well as access applications that address fraud, AML and cybercrime. By hosting these new capabilities on the cloud, rather than on-premise, banks will be able to quickly test, add, adjust, and scale services.
Now is the time for banks to lay the foundations
Leveraging payer data and predictive analytics, financial institutions in APAC can solve problems for consumers and corporate customers alike. Tasks such as paying bills on time to avoid interest charges or late fees, investing surplus cash into optimal investment options based on cash flow and future needs, and more, can all be automated. And by recognizing user preferences, banks will be able to offer bespoke services that further enhance the user experience.
With more players set to enter the market in the coming years, now is the time for banks to lay the necessary foundations on which to build the experience customers are looking for – before those customers are snapped up by challengers. Utilization of technologies like the cloud, AI, and data analytics, combined with the right collaborative partnerships, is the roadmap banks should be looking at.
Featured image credit: Business photo created by rawpixel.com – www.freepik.com

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Open Banking

Finastra Integrates its Solution With Salesforce to Enhance Relationship Management

									by Fintech News Singapore
May 21, 2020

Finastra today announced the launch of its Fusion Credit Connect solution on Salesforce AppExchange and Finastra’s FusionFabric.cloud. They said this is re-envisioning how relationship managers and borrowers connect and communicate from opportunity to origination, through to closing and booking.
Corporate lending end-users benefit from a better customer experience across the whole process of securing and drawing down a loan.
Built on the Salesforce Platform, the Fusion Credit Connect solution is currently available on the AppExchange and on Finastra’s FusionFabric.cloud.

With increasing competitive pressure from fintechs in direct lending, and greater customer expectations around immediate access and service, banks need to react.
In response, Finastra introduced this solution to enhance the loan origination and relationship manager experience: combining the loan data, origination and servicing capabilities from Finastra’s Credit Management Enterprise technology with the Salesforce Platform to unlock new growth prospects for banks’ frontline staff.
Fusion Credit Connect brings together Finastra’s proven lending ecosystem with the Salesforce Platform, integrated via APIs on FusionFabric.cloud.
The new, all-in-one solution will enable banks to identify opportunities, simplify complexity, reduce time to close, and increase revenues with an enhanced user experience from the origination through to decisioning of a loan. Greater efficiency and enhanced communication capabilities will boost customer experience for borrowers, ultimately helping to increase revenue.
Eli Rosner

“Fusion Credit Connect is a welcome addition to AppExchange, as it powers digital transformation for customers by reimagining the corporate lending experience,” said Woodson Martin, GM of Salesforce AppExchange. “AppExchange is constantly evolving to enable our partners to build cutting-edge solutions across industries, including financial services, to drive customer success.”

Eli Rosner, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Finastra said,

“The Fusion Credit Connect app was born out of an initial innovation sprint. What we are doing with our FusionFabric.cloud open platform for innovation is encouraging industry collaboration and this integration is very much about unlocking potential for enhanced customer experiences.”

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AI
Fintech Startup of the Week
Regtech

Silent Eight Uses AI to Fight Financial Crime

									by Fintech News Singapore
May 29, 2020

COVID-19 continues to spread in Singapore with now more than 30,400 confirmed cases and over 20 deaths, according to the latest data from the John Hopkins University.
Though the numbers continue to rise, with 614 new cases of COVID-19 infection being unveiled just on May 22, the government is planning to further ease restrictions starting next month.
On the economic front, the Singapore economy contracted by 2.2% year-on-year in the first quarter due to the outbreak and the global measures put in place, reports Channel News Asia. The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) has downgraded its GDP growth forecast for 2020 to between -4% and -1%.
Undeniably, the pandemic has had an enormous impact on all nations and all industries with the hardest hit being small businesses and startups.

But in these dire times, the business community has shown solidarity by developing new products, and offering discounts and free services to their counterparts.
To do our part in this global effort, the Fintech News Network will be covering one new promising fintech startup each week to give them a much deserved spotlight.
Today, we delve into Silent Eight, a regtech startup leveraging artificial intelligence (AI).
Silent Eight: AI for name screening
Silent Eight is an award-winning regtech startup that helps financial institutions manage their compliance and risk obligations. The company leverages AI and machine learning (ML) to improve the name screening process, weed out money laundering and terrorist financing, reduce manpower and compliance risks, and enable better decision making.
Silent Eight’s technology is capable of digesting petabytes of data simultaneously and uses ML algorithms to screen client entities against sanctions lists, criminal records, court cases and other public and private data.
Not only does the solution provide financial institutions with more relevant information, it also significantly lowers the chances of inaccuracies, enhances the security of transactions, and frees up analysts’ time so they can focus on more complicated alerts that require human intervention.
On-demand AI for KYC and AML
Most recently, the company launched a new commercial model that made its award-winning name screening AI available as a cloud-based, on-demand service with no minimum or contract.
The AI, which is traditionally custom built for large banks to solve name and entity alerts, is now for the first time available to a broader market, thanks to its commercial structure that allows customers to only pay for the alerts solved, without any annual commitment, the company says.
The new offering aims to support alert solving during the pandemic and help mitigate the business impact of COVID-19 in the compliance space, it says.
The AI is fully customized and learns from the institution’s processes and experience. It comes with military-grade encryption, covers any type of alert (AM, PEP, sanctions, internal), and has no limit on geographies or hits per alert. It is deployable in as few as two weeks.
Silent Eight has waived all set-up costs for configuring its cloud AI as part of their pledge to help the Singapore financial community.
Incorporated in 2013, Silent Eight is headquartered in Singapore and has offices in London, New York, Chicago, and Warsaw. The startup was the winner of the 2017 Fintech Abu Dhabi Innovation Challenge, the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s 2017 Fintech Hackcelerator award and won the Top Fintech Award in Australia in 2018.
Silent Eight’s backers include SC Ventures, the venture capital arm of Standard Chartered, Wavemaker Partners, and OTB Ventures.
Standard Chartered is also Silent Eight’s biggest client and has engaged with the startup since December 2018 to optimize its name screening process at scale across more than 40 markets including the US, the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Silent Eight is now looking to bolster its global presence and says it will be bringing in a couple of new global customers this year, in addition to evolving its offering to suit their needs.
Silent Eight is part of a growing community of tech startups that are applying cutting-edge technologies to help financial institutions enhance their regulatory processes.
In 2019, financial institutions were fined a total of US$36 billion for non-compliance with AML, KYC and sanctions regulations, a 160% increase over a 15 month period, according to a study by Fenergo.
Out of the world’s top 50 banks, 12 were fined for non-compliance with AML, KYC and sanctions violations last year. Switzerland was the biggest offender after a tier one Swiss bank received the biggest single fine of US$5.1 billion by the French Criminal Court for AML breaches.

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Regtech

Regtech Solution Provider IMTF Announces New APAC Head

									by Company Announcement
May 26, 2020

IMTF, the Leading Swiss provider of RegTech solutions in the financial service industry since 1987, has reinforced its APAC focus and presence with the nomination of Jordan Lo to the company’s management team.
Jordan Lo Chee Ee
Jordan Lo will take over as APAC General Manager on June 1st, 2020 and will focus his activities both on the successful implementation of ongoing and challenging projects in the APAC region and the increasing demand for IMTF RegTech solutions.
Jordan Lo is Singaporean and comes with extensive experience in the financial sector, banking technology, and management consulting. For the last 2 years, Jordan has already been working with IMTF Singapore as Senior Project Leader and has shown that he has a deep understanding of the current challenges facing banks in the region and, more importantly, that he can deliver.
Jordan Lo will be instrumental in supporting banks, asset managers and insurers in their digital transformation. Together with the IMTF Singapore team, he will be managing projects with IMTF’s leading RegTech application platform, particularly in the fields of Client Lifecycle Management, Onboarding, KYC and AML automation.

Mark Büsser
“Our ambition is to support APAC financial institutions of all types to enhance their digital propositions and user experience,”
says Mark Büsser, IMTF group CEO.
“Firms wishing to maintain a competitive edge will need to invest in innovative and automated Regulatory technology to assure client relations, keep up with changing regulations and reduce cost. We have a deep understanding of today’s challenging financial environment and an extensive expertise to support banks in meeting their needs for evolution, efficiency and faster time to market.”

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Open Banking

Finastra: 98% of Singapore Banks Agree That Open Banking Is Important to Their Business

									by Fintech News Singapore
May 27, 2020

A global survey by Finastra shows financial institutions in Singapore are supportive of the Open Banking movement and fintech collaboration, with 86% either committed to or considering opening their APIs in the next 12 months. Nearly all respondents (98%) said Open Banking is important to their organization, with 89% believing that collaboration has made their business more efficient.

The research was conducted prior to the Coronavirus outbreak amongst 774 financial institutions and banks across the US, UK, Singapore, France, Germany, Hong Kong and UAE. 110 organizations in Singapore were included.

However, the survey also found that a number of financial institutions believe regulation is currently limiting progress. More than half of Singapore participants agreed that ‘regulations are too tight’ (56%), while 90% called for greater global harmonization of regulation on innovation. Two thirds of respondents (66%) also want to see regulators create standardized best practices across the industry to help foster collaboration.

Wissam Khoury
Wissam Khoury, Senior Vice President and General Manager, APAC and MEA at Finastra said,
“It’s encouraging to see that financial institutions are embracing the Open Banking model enabled by open APIs, and that collaboration is already helping so many become more efficient. It’s clear, however, that regulation needs become a facilitator rather than a barrier going forward. I’m excited to see the industry make further strides towards enabling a truly collaborative model to drive the industry forward and enable true open finance.”
As Singapore gears up to announce the successful applicants for its new digital banking licenses in the second half of 2020, the research also reveals mobile banking as the top technology to be deployed by financial institutions in the next twelve months, followed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and open APIs.

Wissam added,
“Financial institutions are looking to seize new opportunities in spaces such as mobile banking and AI, particularly as digital banking continues to accelerate in Singapore. Combined with increasing appetite for collaboration and Open Banking, this bodes well for the future of the industry as financial institutions here – incumbents and disruptors alike – race to provide seamless, digitally-enabled customer experiences.”
To see the report, click here.

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Open Banking

APAC Banks Are Backing Open Banking, but What Does ‘Open’ Really Mean?

									by Wissam Khoury, Finastra
May 27, 2020

A survey launched this week by Finastra revealed that close to 100% of financial institutions in Singapore and Hong Kong think Open Banking is important, with two thirds in Singapore calling it a “must have”. Open Banking has not only taken root, banks are already seeing the green shoots of progress. In fact, Finastra’s survey found that 95% of banks in Hong Kong have already found collaboration to be a key driver of success, while nine out of 10 in Singapore said it has already made their business more efficient.
image credit: Finastra
So what does this tell us? In short, it highlights recognition that banks cannot provide the digital services or experiences that customers want operating from within walled gardens will not allow them to. Incumbents are facing a steady pipeline of new digital players coming to market across the region, so they are looking towards fintech collaboration as a way to compete.
These are positive findings, but the statistics do not mean the work is done. Opening up is an ongoing process and those who do it better will be the ones that thrive, especially as the move towards digital services is being accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis. For banks and their customers to benefit from Open Banking’s true potential, they must open up their culture and their vision, as well as their technology.
Open culture
Openness and collaboration is a shift from the traditional norm for many banks, and something which may be more willingly embraced by some parts of the business than others. Organizations, therefore, need to build openness into their DNA. Siloes should be broken down so that teams across disciplines and functions can work together towards the same goal. Divergent thinking should be rewarded, and new ideas pursued and incubated through practices like 90-day sprints. If they fail, it’s ok – fail fast and move on to the next thing.

We are now seeing innovation sprints and customer-specific hackathons that encourage participation from the entire ecosystem: customers, suppliers, partners and developers. This outside-in approach generates wider opportunities such as partnerships, joint propositions, co-development, and an ecosystem mindset, in which the goal is sustained, combined success, not success in isolation.
Support for this type of working needs to come from the top and have visible commitment from the C-suite. Successfully creating an open culture leads to a collaborative mindset, which, in turn, creates curiosity and bravery to look outside for innovation and advantage.
Open Vision
An extension of developing an open culture is vision.
Millennials and Generation Z are important market segments for incumbent banks, particularly because they are the most likely to switch to a digital challenger. It is therefore important to understand that these populations hold different values to the generations before them, placing greater importance on factors like a purpose, ethics and sustainability.
It’s not enough to be a follower in the market and try to replicate others’ success in product lines or approaches; banks must seek out new ways to innovate that have a wider positive social and economic impact.
There is no trade-off between individual success and global sustainability. And banks can play both partner and collaborator in this open ecosystem. The majority of innovation happens outside of an organization’s walls, so leveraging external innovation found within the wider network can bring about not only new products and services, but new partnerships that, together, can address the wider societal agenda and drive powerful change.
Open Technology
Open technology has the power to bring everything together. Open application programming interfaces (APIs) allow banks to plug third party solutions into their systems with ease, enabling them to react to customer needs by bringing in new services or functionality quickly. Over the next 12 months, around 90% of financial institutions in both Hong Kong and Singapore say they plan to use open APIs to enable Open Banking in this way.
Banking collaboration will also benefit from the trend towards platformification. We have already seen business models transform in areas like transport and ecommerce, where platforms like Gojek and Alibaba connect service providers with consumers. Finastra is advancing this trend in financial services with FusionFabric.Cloud, our open developer platform and marketplace. Developers can integrate existing apps or develop new ones within the platform, whilst financial institutions are able to explore the apps available and find the innovation they are looking for. By championing innovation through collaboration, platforms like this will change the way banking software is built and distributed.
There is unprecedented opportunity to bring about change in financial services through digital transformation and new ways of working. The results of our survey show that this is already underway, but it is up to financial institutions to decide how far they will go. There will be those that embrace openness fully – culture, vision and technology – and those that will not. Those that do not ignore open culture and vision may never reap the full potential of Open Banking, for themselves or their customers.

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InsurTech

NTUC Income Launches Snack, a Bite-Size “Stackable” Insurance Product

									by Fintech News Singapore
June 12, 2020

NTUC Income (Income) launched SNACK, which they described as an “innovative, industry-first insurance proposition that revolutionises the way consumers engage with, purchase and obtain insurance protection in Singapore.”
Typically, an insured is required to pay insurance premiums at a fixed quantum either monthly or annually, and sometimes over a fixed duration of time, in order to be covered for a specified sum assured.
With SNACK, the insured gradually builds or stacks his insurance coverage by paying micro-premiums at either $0.30, $0.50 or $0.70 and accumulate micro-policiesthat offer a specified sum assured – based on the insured’s profile- that corresponds with the premiums paid. The SNACK insured can also decide when and how frequent premiums are paid by linking them to his preferred lifestyle triggers, such as ordering a meal, exercising or simply by taking public transport.
More significantly, each micro-policy, which is issued when a micro-premium is paid, covers the SNACK insured for 360 days. This means that the insured stays protected by insurance coverage that has been accumulated over time even when he stops using his lifestyle triggers or if the weekly cap is reached.

Peter Tay
Mr Peter Tay, Income’s Chief Digital Officer said,
“Today’s consumers are empowered individuals who are well informed, and seek choice, convenience and personalisation in the products and services they engage with, and insurance is no exception. By reimagining insurance, SNACK is offering consumers new freedom and flexibility in protecting themselves, just by going about their daily activities. This makes insurance more accessible and relevant to everyone, keeping it easily adaptable to lifestyle needs and personal financial situations.”

Currently, SNACK partners EZ-link, Fitbit and Burpple to enable insureds to accumulate Term Life (TL), Critical Illness (CI) and Personal Accident (PA) insurance coverage on the SNACK mobile app each time they pay for. their public transport using their EZ-link card, clock 5,000 steps a day on their Fitbit or redeem a dining/takeaway deal on Burpple Beyond.
The corresponding insurance coverage (i.e sum assured) earned at the same premium quantum for an insurance product
is determined by the insured’s profile such as, age, gender, a smoker or non-smoker.
To make insurance more accessible via SNACK, new partners such as Visa, will come on board this first-of-its-kind insurance model to enable retail, entertainment, transport and groceries category triggers for all local Visa cardholders whenever they make a purchase online or offline.

This means that a SNACK insured will be able to stack his insurance coverage in TL, CI and PA insurance more accessibly, and potentially reached maximum sum assured quicker, with more lifestyle trigger options.
For example, 25 year-old Zac, who is a non-smoker, sets up a transport trigger on his SNACK mobile app to pay $0.30 premium for CI coverage each time he commutes on a public bus or train. With each bus or train trip, Zac accumulates a micro-policy that offers him $321 sum assured.
Subsequently when the retail trigger is available on SNACK, he can further stack his CI coverage every time he shops online with his Visa card. He can stack these micro-policies to accumulate a maximum coverage of $200,000 for CI and TL insurance and $100,000 for PA insurance.
Additionally, SNACK offers insureds the flexibility to build insurance coverage at their own pace by setting a weekly cap of up to a maximum of $50 on payment triggers, if they wish to ease cash flow. SNACK is also looking to enhance its insurance offerings by offering options that help insureds save and invest for their future.

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Insurtech Picking up Steam in Asia

InsurTech

Insurtech Picking up Steam in Asia

									by Fintech News Singapore
June 29, 2020

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Insurtech is evolving rapidly in Asia with players taking big steps forward and deal counts multiplying as the growing wealth and middle class in huge markets like China, India and part of Southeast Asia, are bringing in opportunities for incumbents, disruptors and investors alike.
By 2029, Swiss Re estimates that Asia Pacific (APAC) will account for 42% of global insurance premiums with China forecasted to hold a 20% market share, making it the world’s largest insurance market by mid-2030.
Yet, currently, most markets across the region are largely underserved with demand in countries such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia and mainland China, remaining significantly unmet, according to a Bain & Company report.
But with governments across APAC launching supportive initiatives and passing favorable policies to support fintech, insurtech has somewhat followed that ascending trajectory with several big moves being played out over the past year or so.

In Indonesia, Qoala just raised US$13.5 million in Series A funding in the largest round ever raised by an Indonesian insurtech startup to date.
Launched in 2019, Qoala leverages big data, machine learning (ML), the Internet-of-Things (IoT) and blockchain to democratize insurance. The startup partners with big companies, including e-commerce and travel platforms, to enhance their customer experience through its innovative insurance products. Qoala’s key partners include Shopee, JD, Grabkios/Grab for merchants, Pegipegi, formerly the Traveloka app, Tokopedia and Investree.
In Singapore, AMTD Digital announced earlier this month that it had acquired insurtech startup PolicyPal. PolicyPal will serve as AMTD Digital’s “key operating vehicle” as the firm aims to build an insurtech platform across the whole Asian region, it said in a statement.
Founded in 2016, PolicyPal is a digital management platform for insurance. The startup was the first to graduate from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s Fintech regulatory sandbox two years ago.
In February, Singapore-based insurtech firm Uncharted announced that it had purchased compatriot Shift Insurtech in a move intended at helping it becoming “the emerging global leader of insurance technology,” the company said.
Singapore: the insurtech hub of Southeast Asia
In Southeast Asia, Singapore has become a hub for insurtech innovation, now boosting the region’s largest concentration of insurtech startups with about 80 companies, according to the Singapore Fintech Association’s insurtech directory.
The city-state has welcomed many insurtech players seeking to innovate and collaborate with the insurance industry, and the scene has been described as booming, industry participants told Asia Insurance Review.
Reflective of that is the surging amount of capital investors are pouring into the space. Between January and September 2019, insurtech funding in Singapore nearly quadrupled to US$128 million from US$35 million for the same period in 2018, according to an Accenture report.
In the first nine months of 2019, insurtech companies accounted for 17% of total fintech funding in Singapore, compared with just 8% the previous year.
Singapore fintech funding by product, Oct 2019, Source: Accenture Research analysis on CB Insights, Pitchbook and Tracxn databases as well as undisclosed venture capital transactions data provided by MAS
Insurtech players from Singapore include the likes of Singapore Life (Singlife), which provides digital life insurance services, GoBear, an insurance plan comparison site, Inzsure, which offers on-demand corporate insurance solutions, and Symbo, a Singapore-based regional all lines insurance business with a digital insurance platform.
Igloo, formerly Axinan, is another notable insurtech startup from Singapore that offers digital insurance products and which leverages big data, real-time risk assessment, and end-to-end automated claims management.
Igloo’s offerings range from travel and personal goods insurance products to accidents and disease insurance, and its services are effective in markets including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Australia.
Founded in 2016 by former Grab CTO Wei Zhu, Igloo graduated from Singapore’s PayPal Innovation Lab the same year. The startup closed its Series A+ funding round in April.
China leads the way
But across APAC, it’s China, undeniably, that has been leading the way when it comes to insurance innovation.
With their giant platforms and extensive ecosystems, bigtechs such as Alibaba and Tencent have been at the forefront of the paradigm shift in the insurance business with some of them already having a substantial impact on the industry.
Tencent launched its insurtech subsidiary WeSure in 2017, allowing users to buy insurance products without ever leaving the WeChat ecosystem. WeSure is partnered with over 20 insurers and boasted a user base of more than 55 million, having insured over 25 million users, as of late 2019.
Similarly to WeSure, Alibaba’s mutual-aid platform Xiang Hu Bao operates via the Ant Financial-owned payments and lifestyle platform, the Alipay app. Xiang Hu Bao had attracted 100 million users, as of November 2019.
Meanwhile, Ping An, China’s largest health insurer, has transformed itself into a tech company. The firm has built a connected platform and ecosystem across insurance, health, finance, property, automotive and services for “smart cities,” with approximately 700 million users. Ping An’s core insurance business, HealthKonnect, covers 500 million people in 170+ cities.

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InsurTech
Mobile Payments

Singtel’s Dash App Launches Insurance Savings Plan Underwitten by Etiqa Insurance

									by Fintech News Singapore
July 1, 2020

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Singtel has launched an insurance savings solution for consumers looking to start their savings journey. It is offered exclusively through Singtel’s Dash app and underwritten by Etiqa Insurance.
This adds to their existing financial services which currently provides payments, mobile data top-ups, e-commerce, lifestyle and remittance services. This insurance savings solution is designed for investors who want to start saving regularly for their future but who may be concerned about cash flow, especially during these challenging times.
They can start a Dash EasyEarn plan with a minimum initial premium of S$2,000, up to a maximum of S$20,000. Other benefits include up to 2% per annum returns for the first policy year, no lock-in period and unlimited withdrawals with zero penalties.
Gilbert Chuah
Mr Gilbert Chuah, Head of Mobile Financial Services, Singtel’s International Group says,

“Dash EasyEarn represents the next steps for Dash as it grows to become a more inclusive everyday app that will play a bigger part in enabling our customers’ digital lifestyles. With Dash EasyEarn, customers can start growing their savings with greater convenience with a fully digital insurance product accessible on their mobile phones. We will continue to use technology to glean deeper business insights, better understand the needs and habits of consumers and bring them the products and services that they want.”

Dennis Liu
“Dash EasyEarn was co-created by Singtel and Etiqa to meet the financial needs of digital savvy consumers, who increasingly seek simple and convenient solutions through all-in-one mobile apps. We are honoured and appreciate the opportunity to work with Singtel to close the distance between people, their money, and services. This strategic partnership epitomises Etiqa’s commitment to pursue financial inclusion through innovation and constantly deliver added value to our customers,”
said Mr Dennis Liu, Head of Digital and Business Transformation and Technology of Etiqa Insurance Pte. Ltd.
As an insurance savings plan, Dash EasyEarn offers up to 105% of the account value in the event of death. It also allows users to withdraw their funds any time in case of emergencies without penalties or any interest clawbacks.
To sign up, eligible users in Singapore only need to verify their personal details before topping up using their bank account to get started. Dash EasyEarn is open to eligible residents in Singapore and is available only through the Dash app.
Since its launch in 2014, Dash has expanded beyond payments and mobile remittance to include lifestyle services like restaurant bookings and travel insurance. Dash, which counts over 1 million registered users, is available to everyone regardless of telco or banking relationship, and can be downloaded on any mobile platform.

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