The InsurTech Asia Summit 2019 (ITAS), hosted by Duxes, took place at Four Points by Sheraton Singapore from November 14-15. ITAS 2019 attracted leading figures from the region’s growing insurtech, fintech and financial services sector to discuss the latest industry trends and speak on the future of insurance in a digital world.

ITAS 2019 included speakers from the highest-profile startups and advisory services, including innovators, policy experts, and developers from AIA Group, EH, International Insurance Society Ambassadors (IIS), Pacific Life Re, HCL Technologies, Generali Indonesia, Pand.ai and VenturesOne Asia.

During the two-day event, insurtech specialists from the diverse fields of AI, healthcare insurance, underwriting, forensics, and cloud computing met to talk about their experiences of carrying out insurtech initiatives in the APAC region and share their case studies. Speakers gave presentations on the global investment landscape of insurtech, the influence of blockchain on the future of insurance, and how to use digital claims assistants to fight motor fraud, among other topics.

Attendees were invited to analyze and interpret the impact of the latest technology such as AI, chatbots and big data. In addition to the many speeches delivered by the distinguished guests, the event also featured a fascinating panel discussion on the topic of “How Can InsurTech Be Used to Personalize the Customer Experience and Lower Operating Costs?”

This gathering was an important showcase for bringing together investors, entrepreneurs, and representatives from some of the world’s biggest insurance and financial services companies.

On the first day, John Morley, Partner for Insurance Advisory at EY gave an authoritative talk on “The Outlook of Insurance and InsurTech". In his presentation he described how, globally, insurtechs are gaining increasing traction across all parts of the value chain, pushing carriers to provide a better customer experience.

Morley discussed the growing importance of corporate culture in driving success and said that regulators and investors are increasingly focusing on a company's culture when it comes to evaluating factors such as risk, regulations, and compliance. He pointed to examples where business leaders are taking culture more seriously and linked this with several prominent success stories in different industries.

David Piesse, Chairman of IIS later gave a talk titled "Does Blockchain Technology Hold the Key to the Future of the Insurance Industry?" He explained how over the past five years investment in blockchain has become more and more popular, and the total amount of financing has continued to grow. He said that blockchain has "exited the hype cycle" and pointed to its use in examples such as pharma supply chains, the marine trade, and healthcare delivery, as a sign of things to come.

On the second day, Rosaline Chow Koo, Founder & CEO of CXA spoke on "Building an Insurtech Focused on Employee Benefits & Health Ecosystem". She described how her firm CXA has developed an innovative new platform for employers to offer integrated healthcare services to their staff.

The well-known entrepreneur showed how her AI-powered mobile platform includes smart features such as a personalized visualization of the aging process and an integrated e-wallet to encourage participation in prevention-based health and wellness services.

Also on the second day, Timo Uustal, CEO of Nursebeam, spoke on "Claims Data as a Tool to Improve Policyholder Experience at Reduced Claims Payouts". He described how traditional healthcare insurance providers still lag behind when it comes to offering digital services such as customer support through WhatsApp. "Even though they are slow, the ones that realize they have to change will win the race. I think it's just a matter of time," he said.

"Things do change," he continued. "With the help of Oscar Health, Lemonade and Ping An, the landscape is changing in insurance and in healthcare."

Bruce Swales, Managing Director, APAC for Envista Forensics gave a presentation on "The Role of Technical Experts in the Digital Claims Era". He described how technical experts can come from many different fields – from fire investigation, through to machinery damage inspection or domestic law – and discussed how their valuable knowledge can be best accessed in the digital claims era.

Later in his talk, he showed how several cutting-edge new technologies are being introduced into the insurance process, including drones for aerial surveillance, 3D cameras to create virtual tours of buildings, and the HoloLens VR headset which is being used to enhance forensic investigations.

The second day finished with a lively panel discussion on "The Global Investment Landscape of Insurtech", featuring the expert contributions of Steve Tunstall, CEO & Co-Founder of Inzsure.com, who was joined by Anthony Hobrow, CEO Asia Pacific of VenturesOne Asia, and Piesse.

During the talk, Hobrow commented on the numerous challenges that insurance entrepreneurs face when engaging with investors in the Asia-Pacific region. "So many VCs see the word insurance and go 'no thanks'. If the word insurance is in there that eliminates vast numbers of VC, for some reason. It just has a negative cache for some outside of the industry. Let's change it!", he commented.

Duxes is grateful to all of our distinguished speakers for having taken time out of their busy schedules to attend ITAS 2019 and to share such noteworthy opinions on these matters of industry importance. Duxes also wishes to show their appreciation for the exhibition sponsorship of Pacific Life Re; to Automation Anywhere for its support as presenting sponsor; and, to Leapstack and VenturesOne for their partnership at the event. Lastly, thanks to the numerous organizations that have made ITAS possible with their strong support!

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Duxes is also pleased to add that there are several related forums taking place soon as part of the Duxes High-Tech Series and Duxes Healthcare Series. These include:

CCS

7th China Connected Cars Summit 2020

May 16-17, Beijing

HPAP

5th Healthcare Policy Asia Pacific Summit 2020

May 16-17, Singapore

For more information and to book your tickets today, please visit: http://www.duxes.cn/DuxesEventCalendar/index.html