AIA taps on A*Star's data analytics to study insurance consumers' needs

AIA Group on Tuesday said it has signed a multi-year joint collaboration agreement with A*Star's Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), Singapore's largest information and communications tech research institute.

AIA will leverage on the consumer insights provided by I2R to develop innovative behaviour-changing programmes and products to help bridge the vast protection gap across Asia.

"The protection gap is defined as the amount of insurance cover individuals and families have, compared to what they need, and is estimated to reach US$41 trillion in the region and US$305 billion in Singapore," said AIA.

The partnership started on April 30, 2015. It is the first-of-its-kind in the global insurance industry, AIA said.

Data scientists and researchers at I2R will focus on customer profiling and behavioural prediction, as well as IT mobile security by analysing data from primary and secondary research.

"We believe this collaboration with A*Star will enable an even deeper understanding of consumers' wants and needs, using the most advanced data analytics," said Simeon Preston, AIA's group chief operations officer.

"I2R's technologies will enable AIA Group to gain greater insights from their customers' sentiments through data analytics, while also protecting the privacy of their customers through secure mobile platforms," said Lee Shiang Long, executive director of I2R.