NTUC Income takes home two Digital Awards at the 2020 SBR Technology Excellence Awards

NTUC Income won in the General Insurance and Digital Life Insurance categories with industry-first innovations.

With its exceptional approach towards life, health and general insurance, NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative Limited (Income) has successfully introduced two initiatives—Milesurance and Critical Illness: Pay-Per-Trip Plan (CIPPT)—that earned the Digital Award for the general insurance and life insurance category respectively in Singapore Business Review’s second Technology Excellence Awards.

Milesurance is a first-of-its-kind usage-based motor insurance that precisely reflects drivers’ risks according to the distance they drive and only charges subscription customers from the first kilometre. A collaborative innovation between Income and Carro, Southeast Asia’s largest automotive marketplace, Milesurance’s unique ‘pay-as-you-drive’ model means that the less Carro subscribers drive, the less they have to pay and they are only charged for the kilometers they drive monthly, thus, allowing them to allot their finances to other expenses or more pressing matters.

Milesurance essentially broke free from conventional motor insurance plans that provide renewal discounts to subscribers according to their past driving behavior in the past year. Rebates for the distance they did not cover based on the Carro’s subscription package of 15,000 kilometres of mileage per month for each subscriber, will also be used to counterbalance subscription fees for the following month. Un-driven distance can be as high as $800 per annum.

Grounded on a ‘pay-as-you-drive model’, Milesurance’s dynamic premium design allows Income to charge each insured driver/vehicle a personalised rate based on driving behaviour through 4G-equipped vehicular telematics. All insurance premiums are automatically computed, since Income gathers telematics information directly from Carro’s platform and sends the bill to the policyholder at the end of every month. The initiative was also able to supply immediate fleet motor quotation and instant policy issuance to customers.

Since its launch in November 2019, Milesurance has provided coverage in excess of 300,000 kilometres.

Another industry first, CIPPT, was launched in partnership with GrabInsure to offer Grab driver-partners access to critical illness insurance protection.

Providing an exceptional and versatile pay-per-trip micro premium and accumulative coverage proposition, Grab driver-partners can select between $0.10 and $0.50 in premium for a fixed sum assured and build up the corresponding insurance coverage as they complete each trip.

The initiative has witnessed outstanding uptake and reception from Grab driver-partners. Within its first month, Income acquired more than 600 drivers who opted to insure with CIPPT, with two of them accumulating the maximum sum assured of $200,000.

The CIPPT has since been extended to its other verticals, for driver-partners of GrabFood and GrabExpress, further underscoring GrabInsure's commitment to providing leading convenient and customised solutions that leverage Grab's unparalleled customer insights. The growing interest is proof that the new business model indeed resonates with customers who are increasingly lifestyle-driven and prefer flexibility and convenience when they engage with insurance.

Peter Tay, Chief Digital Officer at Income said: "Innovating with like-minded leading digital partners like Grab and Carro has enabled Income to embark on ground-breaking innovations that reimagine the way that consumers today engage with, purchase and obtain insurance protection. Both Milesurance and CIPPT are initiatives that speak of our customer-centric approach to innovation, combining our agility to embrace technology with invaluable customer insights, to ultimately bring greater value and convenience to the customer experience as they engage with, purchase and enjoy enhanced access to insurance that’s increasingly tailored to their needs.”

The Technology Excellence Awards, presented by Singapore Business Review, was held via video conferencing throughout the first and second week of June.

This year’s nominations were judged by a panel consisting of Daryl Pereira, Head of Cyber at KPMG; Cheang Wai Keat, Head of Advisory Services in Singapore and ASEAN Technology Consulting Leader at Ernst & Young; Chin Chee Choon, Advisory Leader and Assurance Director at Nexia TS; Rizwi Wun, Partner, Acting Head of Intellectual Property and Technology Practice Group at RHTLaw Asia; Carolyn Chin-Parry, Managing Director and Digital Accelerator Leader at PwC.

If you would like to join the 2021 awards and be acclaimed for your company’s exceptional technological innovations, please email Julie Anne Nuñez at julie@charltonmediamail.com