It is to diversify the group’s source of income and an alternative option for partnerships and tie-ups 

by S BIRRUNTHA / Pic by TMR GRAPHIC

TUNE Protect Group Bhd will continue to invest in its digitalisation efforts, in line with its vision to be the leading digital insurer in the region. 

Group CEO Rohit Chandrasekharan Nambiar said the group would capitalise on technology trends to evolve its tech arm as a profit centre, which would ultimately turn the group into a digitally-led organisation. 

He added the initiative was to diversify the group’s source of income as well as an alternative option for partnerships and tie-ups. 

“We are looking into technology trends such as hyper-personalisation, protection against data theft, identity fraud and the rise of hacks and phishing attacks. 

“Apart from that, we are also looking at opportunities in the e-commerce space amid the pandemic-driven digital acceleration. 

“We hope this would allow the group to build and engage in more partnerships, as well as products that are related to the gig economy,” he said during the virtual briefing on Tune Protect Group Corporate Day 2022 yesterday. 

Rohit added Tune Protect is looking forward to capitalising on several trends that could pick up in 2022 to place the group in an advantageous position. 

This includes the relaxation of travel restrictions, vaccine passports, mandatory insurance coverage and pent-up travel demand, which opens up opportunities in trip cancellation insurance, Covid-19 coverage, travel delay benefits and more. 

According to Rohit, Tune Protect aims to achieve a 25% to 33% compounded annual growth rate for its total net premiums written (NWP) by 2023. 

He added the health industry and small and medium enterprises will be critical drivers of its growth moving forward, expecting these two segments each to make up about 15% of NWP. 

He said the lifestyle segment will continue to be the largest premium contributor, accounting for a major 70%. 

Rohit said Tune Protect is also eyeing to expand its operations in Indonesia and Vietnam. 

“We are eyeing regional expansion to tap major population regional densities of South-East Asia that are fuelled by market reach via direct digital access proprietary mobile app penetration. 

“As underlying mobile Internet penetration in these countries is also growing fast with tremendous growth potential,” he noted. 

Rohit said the group’s Middle East market is expected to maintain its momentum despite the weaker performance of the segment in its recent quarter. 

He pointed out that there are months when people frequently travel to the Middle East region and there are also slower months, such as during Ramadan. 

He cited the fears arising from the surge in Covid-19 infections as a factor, adding that there should be more consistency in 2022 as fears gradually subside. 

“We believe that the Middle East segment is very much sustainable as the group does not rely on a single partner and has tied up with Air Arabia and Salam Air, for example. 

“Currently, over 1,000 travel agencies in the region are using Tune Protect’s business-to-business platform and are selling our products,” he said. 

Besides the Middle East, Rohit noted that Tune Protect is also looking at new markets such as Eastern Europe, in which the group is actively pursuing right now. 

For the third quarter of 2021 (3Q21), Tune Protect recorded an improvement in gross written premiums by 15.2% year-onyear (YoY) despite a challenging market landscape with lockdowns in July and August this year in both Malaysia and Thailand. 

Rohit said the group is positive of a strong rebound of the travel sector as travel restrictions are gradually lifted domestically and globally. 

This was evident by the 170% growth in the travel segment, particularly in the Middle East, contributing to the group’s underwriting profit of RM0.3 million for 3Q21.