Michael Spencer, founder and chief executive of broker NEX Group, which was sold to CME group for £3.9 billion ($5 billion) earlier this year, is in advanced talks to invest $50 million in insurtech Singapore Life, according to The Financial Times. As of now, he has an 18% stake in the company, but this investment would bump that up to 60%, giving him controlling power. Singapore Life launched last year, and was funded by former HSBC executive Walter de Oude. The insurtech, which was the first local insurance company in Singapore to be granted a license from the Monetary Authority Singapore (MAS) since 1970, sells its policies online and via private banks and brokers. Singapore Life focuses on offering life insurance digitally, while most of Asia still largely depends on agency sales for this type of insurance. The startup offers term life, universal life, as well as endowment insurance policies. Additionally, it launched a Stay Active program, which allows users to sync their fitness tracker or pedometer with Singapore Life to receive awards and price cuts, depending on their lifestyle. If a user is in the top 50% of participants with the most steps per month, they can get 5% cashback. Conventionally, life insurance is sold via a broker or agent, and even China's tech-savvy insurer Ping An, the country’s second-largest life insurer, still employs large agency sales forces, according to the FT. As such, consumers in Asia might not be used to purchasing this kind of insurance online. This model may be new to the market in Singapore, but having such an experienced backer could help its future success. Given Asian consumers generally still rely on agencies when purchasing life insurance, they may be hesitant to utilize Singapore Life's services at first. However, having a backer like Spencer, who has experience running a company successfully, could help it overcome this hurdle. Additionally, as consumers get more used to purchasing life insurance online, with more insurtechs launching, we will probably see increased uptake of such online solutions. Tech-driven disruption in the insurance industry continues at pace, and we're now entering a new phase — the adaptation of underlying business models. That's leading to ongoing changes in the distribution segment of the industry, but more excitingly, we are starting to see movement in the fundamentals of insurance — policy creation, underwriting, and claims management. The Insurtech 2.0 Report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, will briefly review major changes in the insurtech segment over the past year. It will then examine how startups and legacy players across the insurance value chain are using technology to develop new business models that cut costs or boost revenue, and, in some cases, both. Additionally, we will provide our take on the future of insurance as insurtech continues to proliferate. Here are some of the key takeaways: In full, the report:
Singapore Life, an insurtech offering life insurance, is in talks with Michael Spencer, the CEO of broker NEX Group, over a potential $50m investment. The company has been working on its blockchain technology for several years and recently announced it had raised $32m. Singapore Life offers insurance online via banks and brokers rather than through traditional agencies as is the norm in much of Asia. The insurtech is the first local insurer to be granted a licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore since 1970, and uses fitness tracking information from clients in its Stay Active programme to offer discounts to those with active lifestyles.