AIA offers discounts for exercisers

Models promote the new AIA Vitality X T Walking app. / Courtesy of AIA Group

By Jhoo Dong-chan

AIA has rolled out a new type of insurance product that offer discounts on insurance premiums for those who regularly walk or jog.

The product, introduced in cooperation with SK Telecom and SK C&C, is supported by the AIA Vitality X T Walking app that suggests a weekly walk or jog to help improve a policyholder's health.

According to the largest public listed life insurance group in Asia, Monday, it introduced the app last week. Various benefits will be given to AIA policyholders or SK Telecom customers if they accomplish the app's weekly tasks.

The AIA Vitality X T Walking app classifies its users by four grades _ Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. And based on their grades, AIA policyholders get a discount on their insurance premiums while SK Telecom customers are given a free music download, or Starbucks or Youngpoong Bookstore coupon.

“The AIA Vitality X T Walking app is one of the biggest wellness programs in the nation's insurance market,” said AIA Korea CEO Cha Tae-jin. “The service will help improve our policyholders' wellbeing by offering various incentives.”

The app grants 50 points to a user who walks 7,500 steps and 100 points for those who walk 12,500 steps a day. It takes about 15 minutes for a regular adult to reach 7,500 steps a day. According to the America Heart Association, a regular adult walks about 6,000 steps a day.

It also provides points for users if they input their health information such as weight and smoking status.

“Reaching 7,500 steps a day isn't a difficult goal. A regular office worker can accomplish if it he or she gets off one stop earlier to walk to the office and uses the stairs instead of an elevator,” AIA said in a press release.

The service is now available at the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for AIA policyholders or SK Telecom customers older than 18.

The Vitality wellness program was developed and introduced by South Africa-based insurance tech firm Discovery in 1997. The program is now used by 8 million people in 16 countries across the world, and in Korea, it is provided exclusively by AIA Group.