Sustainability in the face of the innovations in the Insurtech and HealthTech fronts were the focus of the roundtable discussion organized by Digital Pilipinas, now the largest private sector-led movement for creating an innovation and technology ecosystem in the country that is actively engaged in a global digital economy, joined by the industry leaders and key stakeholders in the insurance and health spaces led by the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA), the Philippine Life Insurance Association (PLIA), and the Philippine Insurtech and Healthtech Association (PIHAI.)
Rico Bautista, PLIA President and Etiqa Philippines President and CEO, shared insights on the company’s innovative technological solutions and its commitment to serve customers well through various digital touchpoints. He said, “We need to be able to provide excellent customer experience. What we have done is even before the pandemic hit, we were already developing our app-based solutions.” He added,” Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) is something that all of us should be pursuing. Digitalization and being part of Digital Pilipinas and being part of the Healthtech and Insurtech associations allow us to push forward that ESG concept and initiative that we all should be having. We want to be at the forefront of this because we are serious about sustainability and ESG.”
Meanwhile, PLIA General Manager and Data Protection Officer George Mina discussed the significant changes in the insurance industry in the sphere of digitalization. “The most significant is being able to sell life insurance on a digital basis. It used to be a face-to-face thing. If you look at the websites of life insurance companies, they’re getting more and more personalized (in terms of) branding of digital assistance.”
Hyper-personalized digital banking solutions provider Inypay Founder and CEO Arivuvel Ramu talked about the insurance onboarding platform and the potential for InsurTech growth. He said, “If you look at Insurtech on a global scale, it’s a $83B market share as of 2022. By 2028, the prediction for micro-insurance alone is $118B global market share. Out of that, if you look at Southeast Asia alone, as of 2022, it’s a $3B worth of market and by 2028, the potential market to grow is by $8.4B just for the microfinance sector alone.”
Metro Pacific Health Tech mWell Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer Gary Dujali shared the company’s initiatives to support the growing Healthtech industry of the country as a fully integrated and fully digital health and wellness platform. He said, “This is a fully integrated app experience. We’re in that space where we need to digitalize and bridge the digital divide. This app is that. From the time you select a doctor, all the way towards buying your medicine, and delivered straight to your house.”
The event also served as a venue to discuss the initial research findings of The Voice of Digital Pilipinas, a collaborative undertaking by Digital Pilipinas, Global Fintech Institute, and Tangere that aims to give a democratic voice to Filipinos. Focusing on cybersecurity and data privacy, the first research revealed that government agencies are the most trusted application platform in terms of mobile applications. Tangere CEO Martin Penaflor said, “This serves as an opportunity for the Philippine government. The trust factor is really high, with 3/5 Filipinos preferring government agency applications. This is followed distantly by applications from e-wallets and bank applications.”
The Voice of Digital Pilipinas will be coming up with research on different topics including InsurTech and HealthTech to uncover the pulse of the Filipinos in various industries.
Digital Pilipinas Convenor Amor Maclang emphasized the need to support local players in the InsurTech and HealthTech sectors of the country which are also two of the very important work streams of Digital Pilipinas.
Maclang said, “Health and insurance are two very important aspects of our work. We will be having a series of programs for both HealthTech and InsurTech and grow these industries domestically. We are working on a possible execution of smart contracts and blockchain in the insurance space. There will be a pitch fest and a hackathon because we realize that many of the InsurTech players are foreign. We hope to encourage many InsurTech founders coming from the Philippines and coming from ASEAN to join the pitch fest and hackathon and be part of the Digital Pilipinas Festival x Philippine FinTech Festival happening in November.”
By fostering cooperation among sector leaders, key players, and advocates, a more inclusive and sustainable Insurtech and Healthtech industry can be achieved for the benefit of Filipinos. When insurance, health, and technology converge, they have the potential to bring about positive change in society and contribute to nation-building.
InsurTech and HealthTech are two of the key industries that will be given focus on at the upcoming Digital Pilipinas Festival x Philippine FinTech Festival happening on November 21-24, 2023, at SMX Aura and in various co-located venues and innovation hubs across the country. To register for the festival, please visit https://digitalpilipinas.ph.