DearTime launches as a life insurer in the Bank Negara's sandbox

• Aims to close the gap by offering affordable, accessible insurance
• Customers can buy and make insurance claims via a mobile app 

DearTime, a life insurer in the Bank Negara Malaysia Fintech Regulatory Sandbox, has launched its services.

In a statement, the startup said it aimed at providing a regulatory environment that is conducive for the deployment of fintech and facilitate overall innovation in the country’s financial sector.

Citing Bank Negara Malaysia's statistics, DearTime founder and chief executive officer Jon Ng (pic, above) noted that the life insurance and family takaful penetration rate lies at a worrying 36.5%. 

Ng said Bank Negara noted that only four out of ten Malaysians are currently protected, a far cry from the government’s previous aim of reaching 75% by the year 2020.

As a result, Ng launched an app to close the insurance penetration gap in Malaysia by offering affordable, simple, and accessible insurance through fully digital means.

“For years, life insurance has been unaffordable, complicated, and inaccessible for many Malaysians, especially among the B40 community as well as those in less urban areas.

“We believe life insurance is a fundamental human right, not a privilege. Therefore, through DearTime’s unique business model, we have made insurance accessible so that even those who cannot afford it can get covered by DearTime,” he added.

According to Ng, DearTime’s fully digital business model allows customers to buy, edit, and claim insurance directly from its mobile app. 

By creating a direct link between the customer and DearTime, DearTime is able to offer an innovative and affordable life insurance option to Malaysians, Ng claimed.

Customers can alsoaccess DearTime’s services anytime and anywhere, as the entire process is done digitally via the app, he added.

Ng said there is no better time to launch a digital life insurance company as mobile and Internet usage across all groups of Malaysians is at its highest. 

“With today’s wide connectivity, DearTime’s fully digital insurance solution is how we want to tackle the issue of low insurance penetration head-on,” he said.

The company claimed it is the first fintech company in Malaysia to be an approved participant of Bank Negara Malaysia Fintech Regulatory Sandbox to conduct life insurance business in Malaysia.

Presently, Ng said DearTime’s mobile app offers five easy-to-understand insurance products for individual customers: medical, critical illness, death, disability, and accident. 

These are pure insurance products prioritised for protection only, without confusing terminologies and unnecessary frills such as savings and investments, the firm said.

It added that the app’s user interface is user-friendly and easy to navigate, while its policy management is flexible and convenient. 

DearTime said it presently has approximately 300 hospitals on its panel.

As part of its manifesto of ‘Touching One More Life.’ the company has announced its sponsored insurance initiative – a programme for customers to pay it forward and ultimately, help with getting every Malaysian covered. 

It said that through this initiative, customers can allocate up to 10% of their premiums to the DearTime Charity Fund.

These funds are automatically used to sponsor eligible persons from the B1-B2 groups with DearTime’s insurance, it said.

Additionally, DearTime is pioneering life insurance by leveraging a fully digital process to catalyse other insurtech players that will disrupt the industry in Malaysia.

This it said is in tandem with Bank Negara’s five-year Blueprint 3.0 plan to develop and innovate the financial sector.