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Source: Asia Insurance Review | Aug 2017

China: Global reinsurers offer innovative typhoon insurance solutions 
Both Munich Re and Swiss Re have developed typhoon parametric insurance solutions for the Chinese market. 
 
   Jointly with WeatherTech, a Chinese weather data start-up, Munich Re has developed a parametric trigger based typhoon product that will be available in China’s eight coastal provinces. The product will be provided by various Chinese primary insurance companies at the beginning of China’s 2017 typhoon season. 
 
   This ensures immediate financial relief for insurance company clients after a typhoon event, enabling to start with post-disaster reconstruction work or compensate for other damages caused by a severe typhoon disaster. 
 
   Munich Re designed the scheme with advanced modelling technology and Big Data analysis, while WeatherTech provides weather information as well as the mobile app for easy insurance access. The insurance product offered provides financial compensation to cover losses from wind and excessive rain after a severe typhoon has made land fall. 
 
Mobile-enabled typhoon solution
Meanwhile, Swiss Re has partnered with Ping An Property & Casualty Insurance to launch a mobile-enabled typhoon property parametric insurance solution for China. It gives customers – who may be individuals or enterprises – the ability to purchase insurance, make inquiries and complete the claims settlement process from a mobile device.
 
   In addition to the technological support and reinsurance service from Swiss Re, the solution uses the company’s catastrophe models and data on natural disasters to generate precise quotes to Ping An’s customers, said the global reinsurer in a statement.
 
   This product offers a maximum payout of CNY20,000 (US$2,940) per address for individuals and CNY500,000 per address for enterprises.
 
   The insurance covers eight coastal provincial regions in Southeast China, including Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Fujian, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Shandong and Hainan. These are areas that are prone to typhoons.
 
   The mobile-enabled insurance solution provides real-time tracking of a typhoon’s path and wind speed as announced by the national meteorological centre of China. The trigger for the payout amount is also based on this information. When a typhoon occurs, a user can access an inquiry page, check if the claim terms have been triggered and submit a remote self-service claim. The system will then automatically calculate the claim amount and settles the claim within three days.

Hong Kong: New insurance offering for pets with critical illnesses
Aon Hong Kong Limited and MSIG Insurance have come up with Happy Tails pet insurance, the first and only pet insurance of its kind in the territory. 
 
   The plan offers lifelong and unique coverage including chemotherapy benefits, post-surgical treatments, specific hereditary and congenital conditions, annual limits of hospitalisation (surgery-related) expenses up to HK$55,000 (US$7,050) and annual Aggregate Compensation up to HK$68,750 for a dog. It offers a NCD of up to 15%. 

India: ICICI Prudential Life launches policy for heart ailments and cancer
ICICI Prudential Life has launched ICICI Pru Heart/Cancer Protect in India. The product pays part of the insurance cover amount to the customer upon diagnosis of a heart ailment or cancer, allowing the customer financial support for medical treatment. Customers have the flexibility to choose the cover for either or both conditions. 
 
   For as low as INR100 (US$1.55) monthly, a customer can get cancer cover for INR20 lakh (US$31,030) or heart ailment cover for INR10 lakh.
 
   After the initial payment, the policy continues without the customer having to pay additional premiums. It also offers an add-on benefit called income replacement which provides 1% of the insurance cover as monthly payments to the customer, and another option of increasing the amount of cover every year, a feature meant to help keep pace with rising treatment 
costs. 
 
   Heart ailments and cancer together account for over 50% of casualties among Indians, with India having one of the highest rates of cardiac arrests worldwide, said the insurer.

Japan: Pioneering bitcoin insurance for retailers
Two Bitcoin exchanges in Japan are working with insurers to launch insurance products aimed at preventing losses from failed transactions involving the cryptocurrency, reported the Nikkei Asian Review. 
 
   Japanese Bitcoin exchange bitFlyer has partnered Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance to cover damages if a customer payment does not go through correctly due to system problems or other issues, the first solution of its kind. 
 
   Meanwhile Coincheck, another Tokyo virtual currency exchange operator, is preparing to offer a similar insurance product in collaboration with Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance.

Singapore: MSIG and DBS Bank provide instant travel claims payments
MISG and Singapore-headquartered DBS Bank have introduced Singapore’s first instant electronic payment service for travel insurance claims, which will reduce the time a travel claim is settled by about four days. 
 
   DBS account holders who have bought MSIG’s travel insurance plans through the bank’s website and have signed up for a member login account with MSIG’s customer portal will be able to benefit from this real-time claims payment service. 
 
   The insurer is the first company in Singapore to deploy this new service, which rides on DBS’ new application programming interface, DBS IDEAL RAPID. Around one in two MSIG policies distributed through DBS were bought online last year.

Singapore: Friends Provident International launches new savings product
FPI Singapore has launched a new savings plan, Purpose Saver, targeted at helping affluent individuals meet their short-term savings goals with greater choice and flexibility.
 
   The product enables customers to save in several selected currencies to minimise potential exchange rate risk. It also provides investment exposure through access to investment-linked funds with underlying funds from professional fund houses like Morningstar.
 
   The launch of Purpose Saver also marks the 10-year anniversary of FPI’s presence in Singapore.

Singapore: AXA Insurance offers universal life product for HNWIs
AXA Insurance has launched AXA Private Wealth VUL (Variable Universal Life), a jumbo whole-of-life plan designed for the high net worth (HNW) market. 
 
   Similar to Universal Life plans, the product is first and foremost a whole-of-life protection product, providing death benefit and terminal illness protection, along with policy fund growth potential as well as a transparent fee structure, with flexible access to the policy fund for liquidity. Policy owners will have access to investment profits via cash withdrawals without incurring Surrender Charges.
 
   One key feature of the product is that premium can be paid using cash and/or client assets held by a selected custodian bank, reducing the need to liquidate investments for the premium payment. Similarly, insurance benefits are payable in cash/or by transfer of assets. 
 
   Beyond premium payment flexibility, a “Joint Life Last-to-Die”, also known “Second-to-Die” or “Survivorship” life insurance is offered, featuring a special policy configuration that allows two lives to be jointly insured, where the death benefit will not be paid to the beneficiary until the death of the last insured. 
 
Premium savings
Beside lowering the cost of insurance rates initially and ensuring a smoother progression of premium rates, this feature will result in premium savings especially in situations where one of the insureds has been medically rated as carrying greater health risks. As long as one life is insurable at standard or substandard rates, an uninsurable life can be added onto the policy at an affordable rate of premium. AXA is one of the first providers in Singapore to offer this 
feature.
 
   The policy is available in multiple currencies and the minimum initial premium is US$1 million. It is available to HNW individuals both in Singapore and elsewhere. A 
 
Do you have a new product or programme, or are you innovatively utilising the power of technology? 
Share them with us: editor@asiainsurancereview.com
 
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