Right technology key to ensuring safety while promoting innovation in insurance industry

INNOVATION in the insurance industry will continue to flourish without sacrificing the need to prevent money laundering and risks in financing, an industry expert said.

“I believe technologies can help companies mitigate (such problems),” Etiqa Philippines President and Chief Executive Officer Rico T. Bautista said at the Risky Business Luncheon Series Media Briefing on Tuesday.

“Certain technology solutions can be put in place to be able to detect anomalous transactions. Also, I believe that compliance and innovation are not two opposing ideas,” he added.

Mr. Bautista also noted that the Insurance Commission has already set guidelines on how companies can engage in innovation projects and come up with sandbox approaches to certain initiatives.

“It’s a matter of knowing the opportunities at hand and what technology approaches to be used to seize such opportunities,” he said.

UNOBank Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Manish Bhai said regulators and the government should make sure there are continuous efforts to address risks.

He lauded the government’s implementation of the national ID system, which is seen to improve access to financial services.

The Philippine Statistics Authority has said it is on track to meet its national ID registration target of 50–70 million this year.

As of July, the government has finished collecting demographic data from 37.2 million Filipinos for the national ID.

Bharath Vellore, managing director for Asia-Pacific at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, said: “At the pace of innovation that’s happening, it’s never going to be black and white. There will be a lot of areas that will need further understanding.”

“There will be a lot of areas where a context needs to be developed, and that can only happen when continuous engagement and feedback loops are put in place as new policies (come in),” he added. — Arjay L. Balinbin