Insurer FWD upbeat about selling direct to consumers online

Singapore

THERE are perks to being new even as the insurance market here gets more competitive and for composite insurer FWD Singapore, starting from a clean slate allows it to try what others dare not - to sell its products directly to consumers online.

Abhishek Bhatia, the insurer's chief executive will tell you that a growing number of consumers are shopping and paying bills online, "so it's not a big leap of faith".

The insurer, whose business comprise the group insurance arm when it bought a 90 per cent stake in Sh…