New JV to tap digital insurance products with mobile app
ZhongAn Technologies International Group Limited (“ZA International”), and Grab Holdings Inc. (“Grab”), Southeast Asia’s leading online-to-offline mobile platform, will establish a joint venture company (“JV”) to enter the digital insurance distribution business in Southeast Asia.This will create a digital insurance marketplace that offers products directly to users through the Grab mobile app. The move, which officially marks ZhongAn’ inroads into Southeast Asia, aims at tapping the digital insurance distribution business in the region.
The JV will collaborate with global insurance partners to develop products that are tailored specifically to Southeast Asians’ lifestyle needs. ZhongAn will provide technologies and charge technical service fees with this JV and will also share insurance premium income through strategic investment. Grab will launch the digital insurance platform through its mobile app and tap its wide userbase and customer insights to deliver customized insurance products to millions of users.
The platform will be launched in Singapore in the first half of 2019, before being rolled out in other markets. It will give millions of uninsured and underinsured people access to insurance products through their mobile phones, allowing them to directly browse and pay for affordable insurance products through the Grab app, without going through an agent or broker.
The tie-up will address the usual pain points of insurance discovery, unaffordable premiums and payment options by allowing for insurance premium payments to be adjusted and automatically deducted through GrabPay or its affiliate payment partners. To start, in conjunction with Chubb,Grab will offer a drivers’ insurance product to its driver-partners in Singapore to protect them from loss of income owing to illness or accident.Last year, Grab expanded beyond its core transport offering to become the region’s super-app and provide users with food delivery, parcel delivery,grocery delivery, financial services, content and more. This year, Grab will expand into cross-border remittance and online healthcare.
“The launch of our insurance platform is part of our commitment to becoming the leading everyday superapp in the region. With over 130 million downloads in Southeast Asia and a presence across 336 cities, our deep understanding of consumer behavior and needs uniquely allows us to deliver innovative insurance products that create value for our customers,” Ming Maa, President of Grab, said.
Wayne Xu, Vice General Manager of ZhongAn stated,“We are very pleased to announce this profound partnership with Grab, the Internet giant in Southeast Asia. During the past five years, ZA Insurance has accumulated rich experience providing a new generation of customers with protection against risks in daily life. We have joined hands with over 300 Internet ecosystem partners and exported our technology solutions,with a shared aim to build an insurance ecosystem centered on ZhongAn.We’re confident we can better meet the insurance needs of customers in Southeast Asia, with Grab and other leading insurance companies.”
ZA International was established in Hong Kong in December 2017, by ZhongAn,an online-only Insuretech company in China to explore international business development, collaboration and investment opportunities in the areas of Fintech and Insuretech in overseas markets.
Source: ZhongAn