- Amodo partnership creates compelling low-cost means to create and deliver new products
- Galileo Platforms blockchain technology allows for savings with no compromise on services
HONG KONG SAR – 28 January 2021 – The newly announced partnership between Galileo Platforms and Amodo, two of the world’s leading business-to-business (B2B) insurtech companies, augurs well for a Thai insurance sector looking to shape its post-Covid recovery, one that’s sure to see increased pressure to cut costs without compromising services, according to Galileo Platforms.
Galileo Platforms and Amodo this week launched a strategic push into Thailand, a market where digital sales have taken off since the start of the pandemic, enabling firms with the best online channels to tap significant new revenue streams. It has also fostered product development and new types of policies, such as usage-based and parametric ones.
“One observation from the pandemic is increased digitalisation in Thailand. But we’re also hearing that younger buyers — those with a tight budget — seek a wider range of policy options that better suit their needs,” said Mark Wales, Chief Executive Officer at Galileo Platforms. “Our low-cost high-efficiency technology is perfect in these situations. It works very well with digital and traditional insurance and enables the whole lifecycle of insurance transactions to be completed at scale, without touching human hands. It’s very well suited for Thailand.”
Galileo Platforms’ patented blockchain technology enables insurers to connect with customers, distributors and other key players in real-time using its digital platform, providing a shared source of truth to industry participants, and eliminating the duplication of data.
“Add to our offering the Amodo telematics, which helps gauge lifestyle habits from sleeping and exercising through to driving and travel, and it creates a very compelling proposition. It works so well for micro-insurance, for which there’s growing demand, particularly in the Thai market,” said Mr. Wales, commenting on the partnership with Amodo, a specialist in insurance telematics technology and advisory services, including behaviour data analysis.
“Micro-insurance with telematics can either nudge you to buy or automatically buy insurance as you ride or drive, priced according to location, speed, distance, time of day, who owns the car or motorbike,” added Mr. Wales. “It can offer cover to someone who rides on the back of a different motorbike to get to and from work each day. It can offer you insurance before boarding a plane at the airport. The possibilities are limitless.”
Insurance penetration in Thailand is 3.9%[1], well below the global average of 7.23%[2] or that of Asia’s more developed economies, such as Hong Kong (19.7%). Insurance distribution in the Thai market is heavily dominated by bancassurance and agents, with digital channels growing but still a tiny (~1%) percentage share of the market.[3]
According to a recent report by Deloitte, 35% of insurers in the Asia Pacific expect to cut costs by 20% or more in the coming year, with 84% anticipating cuts of 10% or more. This will affect Thailand too. The trick will be to make the cuts without compromising on existing services or the development of new ones. Blockchain technology offers a low-cost and highly secure solution.
“Many insurers are struggling to become digital, constrained by legacy processes and systems. We’ve re-thought the approach to managing policies, coverage and premiums to create flexible products and straight-through processing giving the customer a complete digital experience,” said Mr. Wales.
“With Galileo, new business quotes, pricing, digital policy issuance, commissions and claims are completed in real-time with a single, secure “source of truth” that is agreed by all parties. It’s an immutable point of reference that replaces the need for multiple copies of transactions, customer and policy records. This could be the way forward amid budget cuts, while maintaining high quality personalised services.”
Galileo Platforms supports all types of retail insurance — medical, life, and general. Its technology helps insurers and customers by removing the need for reconciliations and slow back-office processes, thereby reducing cost, complexity, and errors. Its vision is to make insurance more widely available to the mass of under-insured people across Asia.
About Galileo Platforms
Galileo Platforms Limited is a technology company serving the insurance sector (www.galileoplatforms.com). Using blockchain technology, Galileo Platforms connects participants in the insurance ecosystem, enabling them to deliver revolutionised client experience and reducing costs. It takes much of the functionality typically found in legacy policy administration systems and encodes it in smart contracts in a blockchain. This mutualises the policy administration function, creating new opportunities for insurance. Galileo Platforms enables the insurance of tomorrow.
