Page 15 - Insurance Times December 2018

International

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Accounting Standards Life insurance companies to reward customers for
Board proposes one-year healthy habits
delay to insurance rule John Hancock, a unit of Manulife Financial Corp., recently launched an optional
program to reward customers for healthy habits. Cus-
Accounting Standards Board has tomers can earn points for tracking their daily jogs or
proposed a one-
for their meditation practice, and then use those points
year delay to for rewards toward purchases on Amazon and other
implementing its sites. They can even save money on premiums. Apple
new accounting Watches and Fitbits are increasingly part of everyday life. People track daily
rule aimed at in- steps, log health information, even use the devices to compete against friends
creasing visibility
and family. Now life insurers want in on that.
in how insurers earn money.
What's in it for insurers? For one thing, if policyholders live longer, insurers don't
A spokeswoman for the Interna-
have to pay out as soon, according to Chad Hersh, a vice president for insur-
tional Accounting Standards Board ance at consulting firm Capgemini. Even if wearing a wrist computer doesn't
(IASB) said that a meeting of the by itself make anyone live longer, there may be a more subtle advantage for
IASB backed a 12-month delay to insurers. The customers who want to sign up for such a program might be a
January 2022.
little more health-conscious-and less risky to cover.
The industry had called for introduc- Tal Gilbert, chief executive officer of Vitality USA, the outside company that
tion of the rule to be delayed until
worked with John Hancock to create its program, agrees that healthy custom-
2023. There will be a public consul- ers tend to be more likely to consider signing up but says there's no penalty
tation on the proposed delay. for people with health issues. Brooks Tingle, president and CEO of John Hancock
Insurance, says the program gives the company a way to connect to its policy-
Our Mumbai Office Address holders. Instead of just sending the customer the occasional bill, "we're inter-
acting with customers through Vitality 40 times a month."
Sashi Publications Pvt. Ltd.
The industry needs new ways to attract customers. The percentage of people
204, Hubtown Viva, Western
owning life insurance has fallen steadily for years, though the decline is level-
Express Highway
ing off. And with more people buying coverage online, insurers can't rely as
Andheri East, Mumbai - 400 060 much on agents to build long-term client relationships.
Phone: 9920220066 / 9004744058
Life insurers have long gathered extensive data about customers. Many policies
/ 9903040775
require applicants to undergo a medical exam, giving the insurer a snapshot of
their health when they sign up. But the idea of getting fresh, real-time data spurs
Risk Management the question: When does the insurer know too much? There's a growing need
Association of India for guidelines on how companies use fitness information, says Pam Dixon, execu-
Technical Paper writing tive director of the World Privacy Forum, a nonprofit. While she doesn't think
using such information is necessarily negative, she says the fact that the relatively
contest - Last Date 15th
cautious insurance industry is doing so is "a red flare in the sky for all of us that
December 2018 this is here, and it's having a meaningful impact on our lives."

The Insurance Times, December 2018 15