MAS directs financial institutions to tighten customer verification process

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued a circular to all financial institutions, directing them to tighten their customer verification processes. 

This follows the recent cyber attack at SingHealth where personal information of 1.5 million individuals was illegally accessed and stolen.

For access to online financial services, banks in Singapore are already required to put in place two-factor authentication (e.g. PIN and One-Time-Password) at login to identify their customers. Banks are also required to implement an additional layer of control to authorise high-risk transactions.

Financial institutions also have in place robust measures to verify customer identity. Personal information (name, NRIC number, address, date of birth, etc) is generally not used as the sole means of verification by financial institutions as these are often freely given out by members of the public for various purposes, such as when filling out lucky draw coupons or surveys.

However, to address any risk that the information stolen from SingHealth may be used by fraudsters to impersonate customers and perform unauthorised financial transactions, MAS has directed financial institutions to tighten their customer verification processes. Specifically, with immediate effect, all financial institutions should not rely solely on the types of information stolen (name, NRIC number, address, gender, race, and date of birth) for customer verification. Additional

Etiqa maintains its record of delivering strong returns for participating policyholders with an impressive net investment return of 10.99% in 2017

• Etiqa's consistent, long-term approach to the management of its participating fund continued to benefit policyholders during 2017.
• Assets under management grew to S$385.8 million in 2017, an increase of 133% over 2016.
• Etiqa's participating policies continue to be an attractive financial option to meet the protection, savings and legacy needs of its customers.

SINGAPORE - 12 April 2018 - Etiqa Insurance is pleased to announce record performance for its participating life insurance funds for the year ending 31st December 2017. The progressive insurer delivered a net investment return of 10.99% in 2017, almost three times 2016's achievement.

Sue Chi Kong, Chief Executive Officer of Etiqa Insurance Pte. Ltd. said, "Our participating fund has had another successful year's performance in 2017, yet again reinforcing the benefits of investing in our well-managed and financially strong fund. On the back of strong economic data and positive investment markets, we have achieved our highest ever net investment return for the fund. With our strategic asset allocation across equities and bonds, we are well positioned to continue to provide stable returns for our customers for years to come. As the macroeconomic conditions are expected to remain positive this year, we aim to create even more value for our policyholders by maximising investment returns within the participating fund." 

Customers who purchased Etiqa's participating policies continue to benefit from stable, smoothed returns. Etiqa's prudent management of its participating fund's investments saw assets under management grow, with the market value of policy assets held by the fund amounting to S$385.8 million as at 31st 

Etiqa Launches First-ever Free In-flight Insurance for Singapore Travellers

• The first free in-flight insurance that includes up to S$50,000 in personal accident coverage
• Provides coverage upon three hours flight delay with an add-on of just S$4, across all flights 
• Allows instantaneous travel claims encashment via PayNow 


Etiqa, Singapore’s leading online insurer, launched Singapore’s first free in-flight insurance service for travellers, bringing them peace of mind while on vacation. It also introduced a flight delay add-on – for just S$4, travellers can receive benefits upon a flight delay of just 3 consecutive hours, less than half the industry average of 6 to 12 hours. 

Eligible for all Singapore Outbound Travellers , the free in-flight insurance solution includes up to S$50,000 in personal accident (inflight accidental death) coverage. In addition, the flight-delay top-up, allows travellers to claim up to S$300 for flight delay . This complements Etiqa’s existing ePROTECT travel policy coverage, which currently also include coverage for both in-flight and flight delays, customers will receive coverage across all airlines and flights.

“According to a survey conducted by the Singapore Tourism Board, about 10% of consumers have never purchased travel insurance despite being aware of the importance of a policy,” said Sue Chi Kong, Chief Executive Officer of Etiqa Insurance Singapore. “With our extended service offering of a free inflight insurance service, we hope to educate travellers on the value and importance of travel insurance coverage, encouraging them to consider protecting themselves - even when the cost is kept to a minimum, or absolutely free.”

According to FlightStats, 20,671 flights were cancelled and 177,352 delayed in Asia-Pacific alone during a 30 day period from 10 February to 12 March 2018. Globally, this number rises to over 60,000 flights cancelled, and over 630,000 flights delayed during the same period.  Last year, Etiqa processed more than 1,500 travel claims within one day following the launch of its straight-through claims processes in July 2017 – Out of which 17% were processed due to travel delays. A real-time flight monitoring system was also implemented at the same time to enable auto-flight delay claims for its customers. 

From now till 31 March 2018, travellers can simply apply for the free inflight

AIG Singapore is the first in the general insurance industry to launch claims payment via PayNow

AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte. Ltd. (AIG Singapore)’s customers can now submit travel insurance claims online and request to receive the insurance claims payment via PayNow.

PayNow is an electronic fund transfer service available to customers of any of the seven participating banks: Citibank Singapore Limited, DBS Bank/POSB, HSBC, Maybank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and United Overseas Bank. 

AIG Singapore’s travel insurance policyholders can now receive travel claims payout by simply providing their PayNow registered mobile number or NRIC/FIN number for the funds to be transferred to their account with these participating banks.

AIG Singapore is the first insurer to enable claims payment through PayNow on an enterprise to individual platform via DBS Bank (DBS) through IDEAL RAPID, a market-shaping application programming interface (API)-based instant settlement solution. Customers can now receive travel claims almost instantaneously upon the claims being approved.

Ms Cady Ho, AIG Singapore’s Vice President, Chief Claims and Customer Officer, said, “PayNow is a very convenient payment platform that will benefit almost 30,000 of AIG Singapore’s travel policyholders. We have plans to progressively roll out this claims payment service to our other products so that more customers can benefit from the convenience of faster claims payment and seamless claims experience.”

Mr Benjamin Yeo, DBS Managing Director and Head of Insurance Coverage, said that PayNow brings the promise of digitalisation to customers. “Policyholders can now benefit from a simpler, faster and more convenient claims process. In today’s “instant” economy, customers also don’t have to deal with the extra step of providing their bank account details, or banking in their cheques and then waiting for them to be cleared. Instead, they can now receive their claims immediately upon approval. We are pleased to support the industry’s forward-looking efforts in enhancing customer experience.”

Ms Claudia Salem, CEO of AIG Singapore and Head of Country Operations Southeast Asia said, “Sending money electronically instead of issuing paper cheques is a tablestakes capability in this day and age. This enhancement is one of many, as part of AIG Singapore’s prioritised roadmap in modernising our insurance services. The launch of the PayNow service for claims payments not only improves customer convenience but also aligns with our sustainability agenda to reduce AIG’s carbon footprint.”

Today, most of AIG Singapore’s personal insurance products and claims services are available online, and by 2020, they estimate that half a million personal insurance policies will be transacted electronically1. Paying claims electronically allows customers to enjoy seamless digital insurance experience which is expected to be the future of the industry for most consumer general insurance products.

Facebook Insurance Emart

Disclaimer

Opportunities and challenges for the health insurance industry

Commenting on the opportunities and challenges for the health insurance industry in 2018, Jason Sadler, President, Cigna International Markets, says:

The global health market is larger and more complex than ever. We see two macro trends which are impacting the global growth and delivery of health insurance and wellness products – the aging population and rapid developments in digital technology.

Aging Population: 

We see a huge opportunity for health insurers when it comes to older customers.  We’ve been conditioned to believe that economic and societal growth is driven by the aspirations of the young, however, there’s a ‘’silver lining”. 

The global spending power of over 60s is expected to reach $15 trillion globally within two years, representing a powerful wave of opportunity. Aging is one of the key topics in the 2017 Cigna 360o Well-being Survey which revealed that 20-25% want to work and volunteer after official retirement.

Keeping up with Rapid Development in Digital Technology: