Page 6 - Insurance Times March 2019

Allianz Global Corporate Swiss Re looks to use tech to improve claim-settlement
plans to set up reinsur- in crop insurance

ance branch in India Swiss Re is working on using technology to improve claim settlement in crop
insurance scheme. "One example of the
Allianz Global Corporate and Spe- new technology we have brought into the
cialty (AGCS)
announced country is in the agriculture sector. Satel-
setting up a lite imaging is quite powerful these days,"
said Amitabha Ray, Head of CM P&C, India,
new India re-
Swiss Re, India Branch.
i n s u r a n c e
b r a n c h It can be used very quickly to estimate the
t h r o u g h drought level or soil moisture content level in the area, he added. Based on the
which it plans image, in case the area is drought-stricken, farmers can get payments faster.
to further ex- Similarly, the technology can also predict if the soil moisture content is low,
pand its presence in the Asia-Pacific which would then mean that going forward the crop output is going to be low.
region.
"You can estimate the deviation that will happen and can settle claims," said
AGCS India Branch will initially offer
Ray, adding that the use of technology such as this can be a means of value
facultative, proportional and non- addition to the current methods under the scheme.
proportional reinsurance solutions in
areas such as property, liability, ma- "We are a big agriculture insurer worldwide. We are trying very hard on mak-
rine, financial lines, construction and ing the claim settlement process much faster and smoother with the use of
engineering and in energy. technology. We are also trying to use technology to understand crop losses
better," he said.
In particular, it is interested in large-
scale construction projects under In India, it services close to 8-10 per cent of the crop insurance market. Swiss
the Bharatmala initiative, sectors Re, which is the world's second-largest insurer, set up a branch office in India
such as electronics, automotive and in 2017.
high tech communication industries Satish Raju, CEO, India Branch, Swiss Re, said the company is keen to work across
as well as sectors like cyber and ini- all line of businesses in the country. "We want to utilise our international ex-
tial public offerings.
perience. We are keen to help support the country's focus in terms of health,
"We had filed the R1 application crop and help improve insurance penetration. This is our broad-based ap-
with IRDAI, which was granted in No- proach," he said.
vember 2017 and AGCS India went
operational from September 15, Toffee Insurance ties with EKO digital lending platform
2018," said CB Murali, CEO, AGCS
India branch, adding that the rein- Toffee Insurance, has tied up with Eko, a digital lending platform, to distribute
surer has "fairly ambitious plans" for its 'Salary Protect Plan' (Kamai Bachao Yojana)
the next five years. through the latter's nearly one lakh touch points.
AGCS had set up an embedded desk This plan is a product that protects a daily wage
in Bajaj Allianz in 2013 and had com- earner from loss of income in case of
menced writing Indian commercial hospitalisation.
business as well as for some global It has been constructed out of the traditional hos-
clients too.
pital cash product as an income-replacement plan
"The offshore business will move to for daily wage earners, Rohan Kumar, CEO and co-
India in 2019," said Murali, adding founder of Toffee Insurance, told. "This is a prod-
that AGCS has brought $127 crore of uct that has been created for developing the gig
capital as required by IRDA. It ex-
economy in India. It has been created initially for
pects to break even in India in the Eko channel only and the customers they serve. In due course, we will add more
next three to five years.
channel partners, including organised retailers, and pharmacists," said Kumar.

6 The Insurance Times, March 2019