Finger on people's financial Pulse

Singapore

THE coronavirus pandemic has awakened many - particularly young professionals experiencing the first major economic crisis of their lifetimes - to the importance of shoring up their financial planning.

Riding on this heightened interest, as well as a pandemic-induced digital surge, life insurer Prudential will be rolling out wealth-centred features in its artificial intelligence-powered mobile app, Pulse.

The centrepiece to this suite of new features is a chatbot named Ruby, trained to respond to users' burning questions on saving and planning for the future. Powered by artificial intelligence, Ruby builds a customer's financial profile based on their needs, preferences and goals.

Ruby also serves as the custodian of the Pulse digital wallet, which customers can use to pay for their premiums and receive claims.

The app will also include games aimed at stimulating users' engagement with the topics at hand by offering rewards, such as discounted premiums.

Through Ruby, users can also set up an appointment with a financial consultant either virtually, or in-person, to discuss their financial needs.

"Our goal, really, is to motivate more people to be financially ready. We also want to make financial planning simpler and easier. So we try to remove as much friction as possible for people, so that saving becomes much easier," said Ian Warford, Prudential Singapore's chief information technology officer.

Dr Warford, who also leads the wealth ecosystem team for Prudential Corporation Asia, said Ruby's presence may also lower the barriers of entry for some who are new to financial planning.

He explained: "We've found that for a lot of people, it may sometimes be easier asking a chatbot, which is not going to laugh at your questions or anything like that. It makes it really easy."

Holistic picture

Dr Warford added that Ruby's artificial intelligence capability, when combined with the emotional intelligence of a financial consultant, helps deliver a holistic picture of customers' needs and enables more personalised advice. These new wealth features will be added to Pulse next year.

Launched in Singapore in April this year, the app started out as a digital healthy buddy which, among other things, lets users check their health symptoms 24/7 and take part in online health assessments to understand their future disease risks.

There is also a telehealth service available for a flat fee of S$15 (excluding medication and delivery), provided by a panel of Singapore-licensed general practitioners.

Pulse is now available in 13 markets, including 11 in Asia and two in Africa. While built on a similar base platform globally, the app is localised according to the government policies and trends unique to each market. As at the end of November, it had registered over 12 million downloads across Asia. In Singapore, over 120,000 users have downloaded the app.

Registrations went up in July at the height of the pandemic in Asia, with more turning online for health advice amid safe distancing restrictions.

The app is popular especially among 20- to 30-year-olds, with a growth in Gen Z users - those aged between 18 and 20 - in recent months, said a Prudential Singapore spokesperson.

Pulse's enhanced focus on wealth, in addition to health, also follows a survey of Singapore residents commissioned by the insurer early this year.

Some 44 per cent of the 1,200 respondents do not think they will be able to save enough to support themselves until they die, the study found.

It noted that millennials, in particular, are bracing themselves for a financial squeeze, as many shoulder the burdens of care and financial obligation towards their children and elderly parents.

Prudential Singapore's chief executive Dennis Tan noted that rising life expectancies come with challenges.

"Rising longevity can bring all of us immense opportunities. But it also makes planning for the future more complex. With Pulse, it is our intention to harness technology to help people get the most out of a longer life, by being more proactive in managing their health and wealth," he said.

While the insurer's focus on Pulse mirrors a global push by insurers to tap AI to improve service efficiencies, Dr Warford stressed that the technology augments but does not substitute the role of financial consultants.

There is, after all, a great deal of emotion and aspiration at play when making financial goals. "At the end of the day, insurance remains a people business. With smart technologies such as our chatbot Ruby, we are able to take our understanding of the customer to a whole new level and deliver a more superior engagement experience," he said.

Pulse is envisioned as an accessible way to pique users' interest in financial planning, as well as to help consultants get a headstart on prospective customers' financial aspirations, circumstances, and other relevant data.

And while the insurer will soon launch a few bite-sized policies that can be bought via the app, the vast majority of purchasing decisions must still be facilitated by financial consultants.

Prudential Singapore had announced last month that it plans to hire up to 500 more financial consultants in 2021 than this year. The new hires will include up to 200 mid-career individuals selected for its new S$1 million talent management programme, slated to launch in January next year.