Insurance Companies in the Untact Era: "Must Collaborate with Big Tech"

Boheom Research Institute Hosts Online Seminar on "Insurtech and Insurance Industry Outlook in the Untact Era"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] It has been pointed out that the insurance industry needs to seek symbiosis with big tech companies in order to increase vulnerable customer touchpoints in the digital environment and respond to the transition to an untact (contactless) environment.

At the seminar titled "Insurtech and Insurance Industry Outlook in the Untact Era," held online on the 8th, Kim Se-ho, Managing Director of KPMG, who appeared as a presenter, diagnosed, "Insurance companies lack sufficient touchpoints to understand customers, so fundamental improvements are needed to attract and retain customers." On the same day, the Korea Insurance Research Institute held an online joint seminar together with the Korea Insurance Development Institute, the Life Insurance Association, and the General Insurance Association.

According to Managing Director Kim, the insurance industry showed lower usage of applications (apps) compared to other financial sectors. According to the analysis results as of the end of August by AppApe, a mobile app market analysis service company, the top five general insurance company apps by active users were Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (500,000), Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance (340,000), DB Insurance (320,000), Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance (250,000), and KB Insurance (230,000). In the life insurance sector, the order was Samsung Life Insurance (200,000), Hanwha Life Insurance (190,000), Kyobo Life Insurance (130,000), Shinhan Life Insurance (130,000), and Tongyang Life Insurance (70,000).

App usage in other financial sectors was more active than in the insurance industry. In the banking sector, Shinhan Bank (4.08 million), NH Nonghyup Bank (3.75 million), KB Kookmin Bank (3.14 million), Hana Bank (2.4 million), and IBK Industrial Bank of Korea (1.29 million) had over one million active users. In the card industry, Shinhan Card (4.02 million), Samsung Card (2.21 million), Hyundai Card (2.02 million), KB Kookmin Card (1.62 million), and Lotte Card (1.38 million) also had over one million active users. Among fintech companies, Samsung Pay (7.5 million), Toss (6.75 million), KakaoBank (5.77 million), Payco (1.94 million), and BankSalad (990,000) ranked high.

Managing Director Kim proposed establishing digital insurance companies through cross-industry partnerships to increase customer contact frequency and foster growth as an alternative. He also emphasized, "To provide customers with differentiated products and services, the integration of non-financial data is necessary."

Earlier, in his opening remarks, Ahn Cheol-kyung, President of the Korea Insurance Research Institute, stressed, "The transition to untact can be efficiently achieved through new technologies and vast data," and added, "Symbiosis between the insurance industry and big tech companies is inevitable."