Stark Group start-ups keeps leading the insurtech space and get rewarded for its disruptive journey!7/19/2019
In less than 3 weeks, the latest start-ups 100% funded by Stark Group, my-insurer has been the media attraction for its capacity to transform the insurance industry in Asia. For the past 5 years, Stark Group has launched 5 different start-ups with 4 different insurance companies and banks. Last 19 of July, in Bangkok, Matthias de Ferrieres was invited to receive his award as the finalist runner up for the best Insurtech of the year. The event was organized and sponsored by Asia Insurance Review. It launched the Asia Insurance Industry Awards to recognise and salute excellence in the insurance industry and so since 1997. Through this event, they try to promote the industry's move towards higher standards and greater professionalism. Recognizing Stark Group and its leadership as part of the best professional in the industry make his CEO and founder, Matthias de Ferrieres very proud and honoured.
The insurance digitisation is not yet at his full pace, yet, Matthias de Ferrieres believes that such support and encouragement sent by the industry to small start-ups like my-insurer or Stark Group, demonstrate the willingness to move faster and better. FrenchTech features Stark Group & My-Insurer Founder Matthias de Ferrieres by Thibaut Briere4/22/2019
After the blockchain last week, today we’re diving in the Insurtech industry. Matthias de Ferrières, founder and CEO of the Stark group tell sus how he started his companies and what it means for him to be an entrepreneur. Matthias, tell us more about yourself? I founded my first company when I was 16. It was a community of Lego fans and we were organizing events on weekends. It was really fun and I learned a lot! But I sold it after a year to go back to my studies. After that I worked for Arthur Andersen for about a year and then I wanted to learn english so I decided to move to Australia. I did several jobs there and I finally got a lawyer degree. I then moved to Singapore to work for Axa. I started as a intern, and I ended-up as their CMO when I left. What are you doing now? So in 2013, digital was starting to boom and we had a product to acquire customers online. I decided to take it and built a company around it, this is how Stark Group started. Today the group has 3 businesses:The company is mandated by banks or insurers to design their products, from the customer journey to the pricing, etc.). Most insurers today are focused on compliance, legal and risk, not really the product design itself sor we’re filling this gap.In partnerships with DBS we’ve built the first price comparison engine for motor insuranceThis one works extremely well and takes most of my focus at the moment. It is a marketing platform for insurance intermediaries What does it mean for you to be an entrepreneur?
The challenge is that the insurance business is not interesting or sexy for anybody. To me this is a great opportunity as an entrepreneur. I’m convinced that you need experience anyways, whatever the business you’re in. Entrepreneurship is really about knowing your industry inside out and understanding its needs and risks. Today my company works because I spent 15 years working like crazy in a company in this domain. You need 3 things:
What are you objectives in the coming months? Today I’m very focused on MyInsurer. I have always bootstrapped my businesses and Stark Group has invested SGD400K in MyInsurer, but now is the time for us to raise more funds and hire different types of profiles. I am very pragmatic: I know I am very good at knowing which products to build and how to sell them, but I need the right profiles to help use on other aspects. Our plan is to raise funds in September to be ready to deploy later in the year. Stark Group views on digital intermediation of insurance published in Asia Advisers Network4/16/2019
Agents and technology:Teamwork makes the dream work. By Amir Sadiq | 17 Apr 2019 The debate on whether agents will be rendered obsolete by technology has dragged on for years. While it is easy to view it as a slugfest between the old guard and young upstart, both forces in fact share the same goal: Giving customers the assurance and protection that they pay for. Speaking at the Asia InsurTech Summit 2019, IFPAS president Leong Sow Hoe said that consumers do not really care about fancy new technology or the interactive experiences if they cannot get the assurances that insurance products and services are supposed to deliver. The human element Mr Leong believes that agents still have a critical part to play in the insurance value chain as they can provide policyholders the assurances only a human touch can bring, by being present in times of crisis. “At the end of the day a promise made is a promise kept. And when we deliver their cheques, when we deliver payments on hospital bills, we are there,” he said. “Even if there is death, disability or critical illness, we are there.” Singapore Insurance Institute president and Chubb Asia Pacific regional head of agency development and incentives Jeanette Lim said that different types of products require varying levels of customer engagement. She compared buying travel insurance and retirement plans to illustrate her point. Buying travel insurance online for a short holiday, bypassing the agent altogether, has become relatively common because of how quick and simple it is. In contrast, purchasing something bulkier like a retirement plan involves navigating complex intricacies and weighing up the pros and cons of all available policies. Ms Lim said that this process would be far better served with an agent around to give advice. Ms Lim was part of a panel at the summit alongside Stark Group CEO Matthias de Ferrieres and Huntington Partners partner digital Cristiano Pizzocheri that discussed opportunities and collaborations between AI and agents. Empowering agents through technology
“We should think ‘human and digital’. Not ‘human or digital’ as that will do us no good,” said Mr Leong. “’Human and digital’ – where technology and online resources can complement the advice of a professional.” The panel also unanimously agreed that technology should be used to empower agents. “I think one way for us to really help our agents or partners is to make sure they are well versed in terms of technology,” said Ms Lim. “I think the education to make sure the agents adopt, embrace and adapt to technology is a critical mind-set change.” “Many tools exist to help the agents organise themselves,” said Mr Pizzocheri. “What we have to do is to bring it all together and consolidate them to help the agents get their job done.” He brought up AI chatbots that have been used by many online services in recent years. The chatbots can address simple questions customers might have, following which the query can be transferred to an agent should the conversation become more complex. Mr de Ferrieres said that the most important thing for agents to have is data. He said that technology can be used to gather data for agents to generate leads and the meet the right people. Stark Group and its disruptive solutions will be represented at the 20th Asia Conference on Bancassurance in Bangkok. Matthias de Ferrieres is invited to share his views on the Bancassurance has changed in the past years and how it embraced the Tech economy and the digital demand. Innovation through new technologies is a key driver of change in the financial sector and this has led to immeasurable efficiency gains, even though these changes can initially be accompanied by uncertainty and doubt. The Bancassurance sector is no exception to such developments, with possibilities of new methods of service provision as well as greater opportunities for data collection, new product & services deployment.
Yet we dont observe much for the past years. What are the reasons ? Risk adverse governance, strict compliance, disorganisation, fear for innovation? Lets explore! On behalf of the Asia insurance review and the its Summit, InsurTech has developed rapidly in the last few years. Since the emergence of digital labs in 2015, the industry has gone on to witness a revamped insurance landscape, shaped by the birth of startup innovations and digital insurers among others. Today, regulatory sandboxes and pilot projects are the norm. Insurers can no longer afford to work exclusively with traditional partners in today’s digital economy; they must seek other avenues – such as e-commerce and the sharing economy – and adapt to the new reality. But with change come new opportunities, and leveraging technology is the key to taking on the challenges in the brave new insurance world. Insurers must find ways to embed themselves in the digital ecosystem or risk being left out. Matthias de Ferrieres will join a group of panelist to discuss about the different Challenges of Online/Digital Distribution, how does start-ups enter the insurance industry with new model, and the opportunity to digitise the Traditional Distribution Channels. We hope many will join us as Asia insurance review team bring insights on the latest InsurTech happenings in their fourth installment of the Asia InsurTech Summit!
Stark Group designed a range of products called mi insurance. It is a set of simple insurance products with no underwriting questions, no hidden Term & Conditions.
my insurer, the first app with an embedded mobile protectionmy-insurer is a marketing platform dedicated to intermediaries. It offers many functionalities such as publishing, lead generation, policy processing, KYC & FNA.
Foremost it comes with an app for all policyholders. With the launch of mi insurance products, my-insurer differentiates again itself as a unique platform for insurance intermediation. mi insurance products are simple, cheap, clear and lean with single benefits. Such protection cannot be found in the insurance market. As such the platform provides a unique competitive advantage to its members that wish to offer to their customers a clear insurance that respond to their needs. Intermediaries that use my-insurer as a marketing, leads, publishing and crm platform, have now another strong value proposition to offer to their leads, prospect to sign and download the app! |
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