Singlife Philippines, one of the most innovative insurance providers in the country, beefs up its product portfolio within the GCash app, creating better offers that are more relevant and in tune with the times.
Singlife Philippines CEO Rein Hermans said the company would continue to innovate on all fronts to give customers the protection they need at less cost.
“There’s a lot of Filipinos who are not insured yet. There’s only 6 percent of, let’s say, adult Filipinos who actually have a life insurance product. So, there’s a lot of potential here,” he said.
Herman said the company aims to complete its full suite of protection products on GCash by launching Cash for Medical Costs, which provides coverage for high medical bills due to hospitalization and critical illnesses including COVID-19, cancer, heart disease, among others, for as low as P500 a year.
Another product that will be released in the coming months is Cash for Later, which allows customers to kick off their investing journey to help build up funds for future needs like education for children and retirement.
“The completion of this line-up will offer customers a smart way of protecting themselves and their loved ones, giving them control over how they build or strengthen their financial armor without having to leave the GCash app,” Hermans said.
Singlife Philippines will look for two new digital network partners who would also benefit from the plug-and-play proposition of its microservices portal.
“The company is always on the lookout for partners that can offer our products in their digital platforms. Ideally, there should be a significant overlap between our target market and their customer base. Further, it is essential that the partner believes in what we believe in—putting customers in control of their finances through technology, offering meaningful benefits at a fair price, and delivering an exemplary customer experience every single time,” Hermans said.
The company is actively engaged in various stages of discussions with potential partners, so customers can look forward to availing protection products from other digital platforms they are already familiar with.
Singlife Philippines will also launch a direct-to-customer initiative called the Singlife Plan & Protect app. It empowers customers to take charge of their finances by helping them have a better understanding of their financial needs and by providing them with solutions to achieve their desired financial goals.
“We believe that finances are too important to be placed in the hands of someone else. It is only by giving control back to the customers can we truly unlock the potential of money for everyone,” Hermans said.
The insurance firm expects to sign-up at least 150,000 clients in 2021, a fivefold increase from about 32,500 who bought policies when the insurance firm debuted in 2020.
Hermans said the company would be able to generate P350 million in annual premium equivalent, if the targets were reached.
“We’re doing 10,000 policies a day for products we introduced through our partnership with GCash. We are confident we can do 20,000 to 30,000 policies a day,” he said.
The company set its sights on the rising middle class market with 18 million identified as having the capacity to subscribe to protection products and other policies that Singlife offers.
The company’s first product—Cash for Dengue Costs—was in the works when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Singlife was able to quickly pivot from the initial product design and offer customers protection that is more relevant to present times—Cash for Dengue Costs with a free COVID-19 cover.
This was followed by the launch of its income protection suite with a choice between Cash for Income Loss and Cash for Income Loss (Accidents) – the latter, a smart alternative for those with tighter budgets or that could not be underwritten due to age or medical status.
All offer the same fuss-free features that enable customers to not only buy, but also manage policies, file claims along with supporting documents, and secure payments in less than 5 minutes via GInsure on the GCash app.
“We want to make a very flexible product where people have a target, and we want to make sure that they hit the target. I think we have five years to really be very different, before some of the old players might start to compete with us. And for customers, it basically means you get products that offer very meaningful cover which fit your situation and actually allow you to do that for a better price,” Hermans said.
