COVID-19 Has Potential To Digitally Transform Insurance Industry in UAE: Neeraj Gupta

Distribution of insurance products in the UAE market has primarily been through offline mode — agents, brokers, and banks. However, Covid-19 has become a trigger for insurance companies in the UAE to shift towards online selling channels.

“Agencies in the UAE are figuring out ways to process insurance policies digitally. They are figuring out fulfillment processes, online transactions for buying an insurance product, proposal forms, issuance of policies etc,” said Neeraj Gupta, CEO, Policybazaar UAE during an Asia Insurtech Podcast session hosted by Michael Waitze.  

He said, Covid-19 has the potential to digitally transform the insurance landscape in UAE. Pure protection products in the life insurance market are very negligible in UAE. “They haven’t been pushed for the obvious reasons of low-ticket size and commission models. Companies need to evolve to a level where digital adoption doesn’t require a wet signature,” Gupta said.

Bridging Gaps In Digital Adoption

Policybazaar group, which entered UAE in 2018, is aiming at filling the gap in the digital adoption of insurance in the market. Gupta said, Policybazaar.ae is working with a few insurance companies to launch term insurance products which, once launched, would be the only products with a telemedical facility and priced lower than the competition in the market.

Telemedical is a process wherein questions related to existing medical conditions and illnesses are asked by a verified doctor over a phone call arranged by an insurer for a customer. It replaces the need to visit a doctor or a diagnostic center in person.

Similar to its Indian operations, at Policybazaar UAE all the processes are digital. “We help the customer through chat or e-mail but won’t visit their home. If customers show interest in buying through our platform by visiting it, we call them,” said Gupta.

“Digital doesn’t mean just converting a physical proposal form of an existing product into a digital format. One has to go digital in the entire customer experience journey. Ask questions to the customer intelligently which have to be relevant for the product as well as the consumer,” he added.

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Emerging Trends In The Post-Covid World

A recent survey by Policybazaar.ae reveals that the attitude of consumers towards term insurance has changed amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. About a third of the respondents showed a tendency to buy term insurance in the next 12 months and 44% showed interest in investing.

In fact, term insurance queries on PolicyBazaar.ae website doubled between March and May this year compared to the same period in 2019.

Mobile-first approach

For Policybazaar.ae, being digital means mobile-first as 50% of the traffic is generated through mobile. Gupta believes the industry needs a change in mindset for moving to a digital world as many think that the new normal post-Covid-19 will be coming back to offline selling which is unlikely to happen.

(Article edited by: Sunny Lamba)

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