GXBank, Malaysia’s first fully digital bank, has signed an agreement with Zurich General Insurance Malaysia and Zurich Life Insurance Malaysia (Zurich Malaysia) to form a 10-year exclusive bancassurance tripartite partnership that will provide “micro-protection” products for underserved Malaysians.
In a statement announcing the development, the three companies say they will work together to leverage intuitive technology and data-driven insights to identify GXBank customers’ pain points and develop digital insurance products that will be simple, user-friendly and affordable.
“Our partnership enables us to address safety pain points regarding digital banking, and safeguard Malaysians against life and financial uncertainties,” says GXBank chief executive officer Lai Pei-Si.
GXBank and Zurich Malaysia’s first product is set to be rolled out on the GXBank platform sometime in the third quarter of 2024. The offering will be a microinsurance product that aims to protect customers from unauthorized transactions resulting from cybercrime, as well as transactions initiated by electronic scam messages.
Citing data from the Bank Negara Malaysia, GxBank and Zurich Malaysia say that there has been a steep increase in cybercrime in the country, with online fraud cases having doubled over five years from 2019 to 2023, with losses related to cybercrime incidents reaching over 1.3 billion ringgit (US$277.5 million) in 2023.
Zurich Malaysia and GXBank are hoping to key into an untapped market – a 2023 PwC study showed that 58% of Malaysian adults have no life or takaful insurance. Of this number, over 84% are between 18 to 34 years old.
Junior Cho, country CEO and head of Zurich Malaysia, says that for many Malaysians, the need for insurance protection is often weighed between its affordability and their financial standing.
“Coupled with the lack of understanding of the need for insurance protection, these are the main reasons why the populace, especially the financially vulnerable, remain uninsured. This long-term partnership with GXBank enables us to be flexible and agile in how we can co-create relevant affordable insurance products,” he says.
