CxO Global an exclusive network of CxOs around the world, held the InsurTech Summit 2021 to discuss the way forward for the new and emerging digital insurance space.
The summit brought together industry experts who deliberated on innovation in digital insurance, besides learning and brainstorming the most effective strategies for adopting the new technologies and business intelligence mechanisms to better understand and improve the changing insurance ecosystem.
The InsurTech Summit 2021 took place virtually from Friday, 6 August till Saturday, 7 August. The 2-day program was categorized in different segments where SMEs took the platform to talk about transformation, disruption, and innovation in technology and its impact on the future of Pakistan in general, and its insurance landscape in particular.
The participants of the summit included some of the brightest thought leaders in their respective domains. They included Sima Kamil – Deputy Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Aamir Khan – Chairman Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Amir Ibrahim – CEO Jazz, Irfan Wahab Khan – CEO Telenor Pakistan, and Mohammed Ali Ahmed – Deputy Managing Director EFU LIFE Assurance limited.
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Opening the event with his keynote, Aamir Khan – Chairman Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan, said, Insurance providers need to make use of big data and data analytics to have consumer behavior insights and create products based on customer needs.”
Talking about the customer journey, Nadeem Hussain, Coach – PlanetN Group Chairman Pakistan Fintech Network, said, “If you have a digital onboarding service for your customer you should have a digital payment process where your premium payment time is measured.”
Shedding light on embedded insurance, Noman Bashir – CEO Ozoned Digital, said, “We have a lot of driven talent in the insurance industry in Pakistan and things are also globally changing very fast.”
Owais Shaikh – Chief Commercial Officer at Curacel, ranked as the top 100 Insurtechs in the world, discussed a case study on financial inclusion through fraud detection and claims management.
The summit also included a session on ‘Insurance in a Post-Covid World’ with Faisal Abbasi – CEO TPL Life, Rehan Butt – CEO MicroEnsure, and Naeem Akhtar – CEO Postal Life delving into the subject.
Faisal Abbasi stated, “We need to gear up very quickly to update our processes, upgrade our operations, and update our internal communication methods to fulfill customer expectations because customer expectations are changing on a day-to-day basis.”
A brief session on ‘Internet Insurance and Innovation’ was conducted by Nilofer Sohail, Aamir Ibrahim – CEO Jazz, Irfan Wahab Khan – CEO Telenor Pakistan, Sima Kamil – Deputy Governor SBP, Murtaza Khalil – CEO BIMA Pakistan, and Abdul Haye – CEO Alfalah Insurance.
“It’s very important that we focus on areas which will reduce cost, improve automation and improve consumer protection because that’s very important to us and this is where I see the interaction between insurance is insurtech”, said Sima Kamil.
Abdul Haye – CEO Alfalah Insurance, pondered on the lack of awareness in Pakistan and the low penetration rate of insurance. He further added, “Banks have played an important role in creating awareness in masses focusing on consumer finance.”
A detailed session was held on ‘Digital Insurance Distribution’.by Jeremy Leach – Founder & CEO Inclusivity Solutions.
Another session was led by Cristina Pashmi – MD Rehability UK with a panel of Umair Khalid from HelloDoctors and Carmelo Insalaco – Co-founder Rapid Health, who discussed proven European practices that can be applied in both health and insurance.
Sven Roehl – CEO MSG Global Solutions Canada gave a detailed presentation on ‘Global Insurance Trends’.
The summit followed with a session on ‘Bancassurance’ with speakers Shahzad Kusambi – Head DIB, Sarah Irfan – Head of Wealth Management at HMB, Raazia Bari – Sr Manager Bancassurance at UBL, and Arqam Butt – Head of Bancassurance at Bank Alfalah.
“Bancassurance is just simply an arrangement between a bank and an insurance company allowing the insurance company to sell and market its product through the bank’s customer base”, said Sarah Irfan.
Waseem Khan, who is heading the Insurance regulatory at SECP, gave a detailed presentation on the ‘SECP Draft Registration Regime for Digital Only Insurers’.
A brief session on ‘Digital Health Insurance in the Times of Covid-19’ was also conducted with speakers Arsalan Pasha – Joint Director/UIC Window Takaful, Dr. Azfar Malik – Co-Founder & CEO Hayaat, Tariq Hameed – Chairman Audit Committee, Board of Directors at Askari Life Assurance, Hyder Mumtaz – CEO Augment Care, and Mahnoor Farishta – Founder & CEO – Khair.
The panel discussed how telemedicine is helping in the insurance industry and was moderated by Bilal Mumtaz – Co-founder Sehat.com.pk.
Another interesting panel discussion was on ‘Cybersecurity Framework Implementation in the Insurance Sector’ with the session Chair Ashfaque Ahmed and speakers Abdul Qadir – Director Technology Advisory and Cyber Risk at A.F.Ferguson & Co. (PwC Pakistan) Imran Siddiqui – General Manager Information Technology at Adamjee Life, Yaser Ejaz – Head of Information Technology at Adamjee General, and Syed Muhammad Anwer – Head of information technology, Dawood Family Takaful.
A panel discussion with Sohail Jaffer – MD Genesis, Ali Nadeem, COO IGI Life, and Faisal Khan, CRO IGI General Insurance on ‘Comparison of Digital vs. Traditional Insurance’ also took place. The speakers shed light on the digital transformation in the field of insurance.
A case study by Ahmer Ali – CEO & Founder Karyaana on ‘Retail Products & Distribution Channels’ was also presented. A presentation on ‘Universal Health Insurance Pakistan’ by Waqas Ahmed — Executive Director Strategy & Planning at Salaam Takaful followed.
A session on ‘Insurers and InsurTechs: Do opposites really attract?’ was conducted by Zain Ibrahim – Director and Chief Operations Officer at EFU LIFE Assurance limited was also held. He discussed the traditional as well as modern ways of insurance and how technology and digitalization are helping in the Insurance industry.
Speakers Vladimira Mesko Briestenska, Barrister Ahmed Uzair, Barrister Sahib Zadi, and Muhammad Haider Zaidi – Partner at AUC, had a final panel discussion on ‘Law and InsurTech’.
