Unexpected player top provider of life insurance for Cambodians: the mobile-delivered one

[geovalin]

Ayanna Runcie

Telecom operator Smart has become the country’s top life insurance provider. But is mobile-delivered insurance smart for consumers?

In the year since it was first introduced in Cambodia, mobile-delivered insurance has proven to be one of the fastest-growing segments of the Kingdom’s insurance industry, providing affordable coverage to people who might not otherwise have access to insurance.

Telecom operator Smart Axiata has been at the forefront of the innovative model, offering its 7.5 million subscribers the option of purchasing insurance policies underwritten by BIMA and Forte by dialling a short code on their mobile phone. Premiums start at as little as $0.60 per month, and payments are deducted automatically from the subscriber’s mobile credit on a daily basis.

Smart’s partnership with BIMA, the Cambodian arm of Swedish microinsurance provider Milvik, began in October 2014. Since then, more than 430,000 people have registered for Smart Life Insurance, a mobile-delivered product underwritten by BIMA, and the number is growing by 60,000 a month, according to Kieran Cooney, general manager of Milvik (Cambodia) Plc.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/unexpected-player-top-provider-life-insurance-cambodians