'Insurance agents will survive digital disruption'

Rich Planet CEO Nam Sang-woo / Courtesy of Rich Planet

Insurtech platform CEO seeks to connect online, offline experience

By Kim Bo-eun

Boundaries in the insurance industry are increasingly blurring between insurers, fintech players and general agencies that sell insurers' policies.

At a time of increasing competition and uncertainty in the era of digital disruption, general agency Rich & Co launched insurtech platform Rich Planet in 2018.

Rich & Co ranked 7th in earnings in 2019 in Korea's market of general agencies. There are about 4,000 general agencies here.

The firm's impressive performance comes while competition is heating up as the general agencies take up an increasing portion of premiums from new contracts. At 40.56 trillion won, they accounted for 52.8 percent in 2018, and the figure is expected to grow further.

Rich Planet CEO Nam Sang-woo said sales agents will continue to play their role, as people only sign up for insurance policies when they are pushed to do so. In addition, long-term, high-cost policies are complicated and require in-person explanation.

“Of the total premium from new contracts collected in the market, 90 percent of contracts are signed in person-to-person transactions with sales agents, whether this be in person or by telephone,” he said.

Under such circumstances, Rich & Co has begun efforts to increase brand awareness in recent years, as consumers are mostly unaware of general agencies.

Rich Planet is the operator of Rich & Co's app Good Rich. The application, created four years ago, seeks to connect consumers with insurance sales agents.

“The portion general agencies take up in the market will continue to grow, and platforms such as ours will drive the growth of general agencies,” Nam said.

The application currently offers services such as claims applications. Users can also check the entirety of insurance policies they have signed up for, check their health status, review their spending habits and seek new insurance policies. The application shows users the extent to which various risks are covered by the policies they hold.

Good Rich is the most-downloaded app among similar platforms, with 3.6 million downloads and 1.7 million users. Rich Planet attributes this to superior content and user experience, as well as spending on advertising.

Regarding the emergence of new players in the industry, including digital insurers and fintech platforms that partner with insurers to develop new policies, Nam said insurers and general agencies do not regard them as competitors.

"The territory of existing and new players could overlap slightly, but the latter are rather covering uncovered spots in the market," he said.

"They will continue to come up with new, yet simple policies, such as a policy that covers injuries that arise from accidents involving kickboards.”

In the meantime, Rich Planet is aiming to connect customer experience in various spheres including on its app, YouTube channel, online mall for insurance policies and offline meetings with sales agents.

The insurtech company aims to make Good Rich a platform where customers can find all the insurance information they need.

"It is our goal to become a platform that resolves all the needs of customers when it comes to insurance,” the CEO said.