How digital insurer Singlife is challenging the traditional finance ecosystem
Fintechs emerged in the last decade after the global financial crisis in 2008 when the world realised it could not solely rely on traditional banks to fulfill all their financial needs.
Singlife recently launched the Singlife Account to address some of the biggest challenges that consumers faced with money.
Today, as the financial industry is evolving at breakneck speed, digital banks and digital life insurers like Singlife are being introduced to jurisdictions like Singapore and Hong Kong to complement traditional services.
Samantha Ghiotti, the deputy chief executive of Singlife tells The Drum the platform’s main purpose is to address the most immediate challenges that customers face with managing their money by offering more returns with a connected financial experience that brings together savings, investment and insurance into one mobile app.
“Our mobile-first approach serves customers who naturally prefer a more digital way of life. Regardless of how young or old they are, we want to give all mobile-first Singaporeans a way to grow their savings and get more out of the bottom of their bank accounts,” she explains.
To that end, Singlife recently launched the Singlife Account to address some of the biggest challenges that consumers have with managing and growing their money.
It believes managing money today is not as easy as it should be because consumers find themselves having to track multiple accounts, log-ins, and passwords across their banking, insurance, and wealth providers. This results in consumers having trouble when navigating the world of investments.
In addition, many know they should be investing but do not know where to start. While those that do invest find that their investments are idle and don’t generate enough returns. The investments that do, have to be locked up for long periods of time, never immediately accessible.
“We saw first-hand the challenges our customers were having with this and set out with a bold ambition to reshape finance. With 2.5% return p.a., and zero lock-in period and fees, the Singlife Account is the first in our new wave of innovative products across savings, investments, and insurance,” says Ghiotti.
“The Singlife Account will enable customers to have a more connected financial experience, and better manage, grow, and protect their money, directly on their mobile phones.”
To push this message, Singlife appointed Henry Golding, of Crazy Rich Asian fame, as its brand ambassador and used him for a new campaign to promote the Singlife Account.
The campaign created in-house with the help of 72andSunny and Applebox, tells Golding’s journey from a hairdresser to a travel show host, to a successful Hollywood star. Singlife hopes Golding’s story of ambition and potential will help people understand why they should manage their money properly.
In addition, it also wants to showcase the way it engages with customers, whether through WhatsApp or in-person at its offices (pre-Covid-19) and how it brings a more personal and trusted touch to Singlife as a digital platform.
Ghiotti explains it is on this same trust that will bring Singlife’s base of policyholders onto the app and encourage customers to use the platform’s upcoming Grow (investments) and Protect (insurance) offerings.
“Today, our marketing strategy involves multi-channelled campaigns both above and below the line, including search, digital ads, and out-of-home. Building on our campaign with Henry Golding, our priority is to help audiences better understand the product and its benefits as an innovative everyday insurance plan through creative and educational content,” she says.
“In today’s climate of financial uncertainty, our offering also stands as an alternative to other savings products in the market experiencing lower returns. Helping audiences to recognise this will become more critical in our campaigns as we demonstrate Singlife’s real and relevant value. “
She adds: “Customers of our term-life and critical illness products have been with Singlife for several years now. Whether they began their policies as a customer of Zurich Life Singapore, which we acquired in 2017, or selected us as a provider through direct digital channels and our network of financial advisors, the trust we’ve established keeps them engaged and returning to purchase our Singlife Account or deepening their protection through our cancer and critical illness covers.”
As Singlife ventures on the road to profitability its focus today is twofold: bringing the Singlife Account to more people in Singapore and bringing them more value in the form of higher returns under its ‘Manage’ offering.
As the platform does so, Ghiotti believes Singlife will expand to include intuitive, easy-to-use investment products under its ‘Grow’ offering, which is optimised for cost and tailored to our customers’ circumstances.
“We will also offer a wider range of insurance products under our ‘Protect’ offering to give customers the peace-of-mind they need on their wealth,” she says.
“Together, not only will all three services allow customers to enjoy the benefits of insurance, savings and investments as one connected financial experience but also build a sustainable pipeline of verticals to grow the Singlife business and support our regional expansion.”
You can view more content from The Drum's Digital Transformation Festival here.