Southeast Asia’s insurance industry is at a crossroads. Despite rapid economic growth and rising demand for financial protection, insurance penetration remains low. In fact, in many countries like the Philippines, it remains at 1.78%, while countries like Vietnam are at 2.8% and Indonesia is at 1.4%.
One of the biggest barriers in the industry is its continued reliance on outdated legacy systems, which create inefficiencies in underwriting, claims processing, and customer management, driving up costs and making insurance inaccessible to many. The region’s fragmented market, made up of numerous small, independent insurers, further complicates digital transformation efforts, leaving the industry ill-equipped to meet evolving consumer expectations.
“Unlike global insurance powerhouses that invest heavily in digital ecosystems, Southeast Asia’s insurance market remains highly fragmented. Many insurers operated independently, lacking the scale to afford large-scale technological upgrades,” said Raunak Mehta, Igloo’s Co-Founder and CEO. “As an insurtech that has been in the industry for almost a decade, Igloo has seen how shifting to digital is not an option anymore–it’s a necessity. Without it, the industry risks falling further behind and leaving millions of underserved individuals without access to affordable coverage. An accelerated digital transformation is the key to bridging this gap, enabling insurers to offer innovative products and improve accessibility for the growing middle class in Southeast Asia.”
Modernizing insurance processes end-to-end
Igloo, a regional insurtech leader with over 650 million policies facilitated and more than 75 partnerships, offers innovative embedded insurance solutions that seamlessly integrate insurance into core business products. This simplifies policy applications, purchases, and claims management, reducing friction for providers and distributors while streamlining underwriting and claims processing to make the system more efficient, user-friendly, and accessible to a broader audience.
Igloo partners with major online platforms like Lazada and Shopee, payment services such as GCash in the Philippines to develop customized insurance products that integrate into their digital ecosystems. It also collaborates with telecom companies like Smart, consumer finance platforms like Skyro and Salmon, and B2B MSME enabler Growsari in the Philippines to expand access to insurance across various sectors. This frictionless model simplifies the purchasing process, improving conversion rates and appealing to customers who may not have considered insurance otherwise.
Meanwhile, Igloo’s Ignite platform streamlines the sales process for intermediaries, offering a user-friendly interface, a quick quote system, secure payment processing, and real-time referral fee tracking. With 42 products across nine categories, Ignite has expanded to Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and was awarded Mobile App of the Year – Vietnam at the Insurance Asia Awards 2024.
The next step to digitalization? Leaving legacy systems behind
“But beyond this, we see immense value in helping insurers of all sizes fully embrace digital transformation by evolving their systems to become more agile and customer-centric,” said Mehta.
Igloo is helping the industry move away from legacy systems by introducing modular, no-code platforms that enable businesses to scale efficiently, reduce operational complexities, and enhance customer experiences. This way, Igloo empowers insurers to digitally define their underwriting rules, set up sales and operational processes, and launch products through the appropriate distribution channels. They can then monitor performance and identify areas for improvement. From creating their insurance marketplaces to seamlessly embedding products with retail partners’ platforms, and improving agent-driven insurance sales, Igloo is reshaping how insurance can be delivered in a modern, scalable way.
“At the end of the day, our role as an insurtech is not only to facilitate digitalization but also to enable insurers to thrive in this era of digitalization. By adopting scalable technologies, insurers can simplify operations, expand their reach, and provide value to customers in ways that traditional systems simply couldn’t,” Mehta added.
