As the general insurance industry goes through an interesting phase amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and successive lockdown. ETBFSI spoke to Anup Rau, MD & CEO, Future Generali India on the impact of pandemic on their organisation, trends in the claims and new business, emerging risks in the ecosystem and what’s on their priority list. Edited Excerpts:
Q. How was the impact of lockdown at FG India and how do you view the GI Industry?
By the time the lockdown was announced we were well prepared and had moved to online, used Microsoft Teams for communication, move hardware and upgraded software in people’s personal devices so when it came to call centers, our underwriting, our customer service, our claims processes or even digitally sourcing policies, we were ready. While the rest of the world was figuring out we were ready and prepared.
If you look at May 2020 numbers we’ve grown over by 12% as compared to last year. Being better prepared ensures we grow and also look at employee benefits, even as we’ve opened up none of our employees go to office for more than two days in a week. The lack of physical infrastructure has made many to learn with new and much better experiences.
In the short term there will be pain, in the medium term it will be good and unsure about the long term but what I see is that there is an increase in the awareness around insurance has gone up.
We don’t know for how long will Covid last but I think in 2021 and 2022 people’s understanding of products will be up and they will understand the nuances of different products and make better choices.
Q. What trends you’ve in the motor and health space?
Everything is digital end-to-end for Motor from sourcing to filing and settling claims. For health the only challenge is medical examination. We’ve issued policies based on Tele-MER.
There has been a reduction in claims in April and the month of May was close to normal and June has come back to normal and it’s back to normalcy. Whatever trends we are plotting show the claims could be higher if we compare to the normal period before covid-19 plus we’re dealing with unknown around how Covid-19 situation plays out.
But on the motor side, there was significant side reduction in April – May but June so far could be higher than regular month.
Q. How was the off-take of covid-19 policies?
The up-take for Covid-19 policy was really good and sold in sachet form in retail stores. A lot of stores were impacted due to lockdown and categories which were being sold. Now the lockdown has been lifted we certainly see more uptake of this product across stories.
Q. How do you approach customisation?
I think in the financial services space there’s very little pull and the customer proposition has to be carefully worked on so what we’ve done is created products where a customer sees a proposition and buys it.
We’ve sold over a million sachet insurance products across future retail. Products like baggage insurance, covid-insurance, etc. Nobody is forcing or pushing them to buy it lying on the retail counter store. The customer will pay extra money and buy the product. The product has to have the appeal, feel and be useful for him.
Innovation is oriented where ensuring it’s not sold but the customer buys it.
Q. How’s your distribution strategy apart from retail?
While no other insurer has worked out or sold policies in the retail space, we do have online sourcing. We’re looking at exploring how we can scale up in the rural segment as well. While we do have the traditional channel like agency the way they’re sourcing customers has undergone a change in the last few months. The method of engagement matters with channel preference. A lot of shift has happened in the digital uptake in the traditional agency channel as the F2F interaction is not possible but happens over a video call or digital channel.
Q. What emerging risks do you foresee in the industry?
A lot of risks around cyber-fraud and cyber-crime have gone up significantly. A lot of people have been complaining where impersonation and misrepresentation is happening and the other is the unknown risk around Covid-19.
Q. How do you view InsurTechs?
We work across multiple InsurTechs right from distribution to different parts and processes. We see it as an opportunity to learn and experiment as the cost of experimenting is low.
Q. What’s your priority at FG?
Our immediate priority is the employees feel protected and secured and we’re one of the few companies who have told them their positions are secured.
My strong belief is that the situation is temporary and the Covid problem will go away and we want to make sure we’re building an organisation with a long time horizon. I see 2021 as a good spot as the demand and appreciation for insurance will go up and the categories will expand beyond traditional motor and health.
My ask from my people is that how do we make sure over the next 6-8 months we can capitalize on the capabilities which we are building today.
(SOURCE: Business Standard- June 16, 2020)
