In this episode of the Asia Tech Podcast, Michael Waitze is joined by Jennifer Ho, a Principal at Dymon Asia Ventures. They take a deep dive into how the COVID-19 outbreak will digitise business practices in Asia’s financial and healthcare sectors.
The Aftermath of COVID-19
Michael and Jennifer first discussed the economic impacts of social distancing. Jennifer, who has been in the venture capital space for over six years, highlighted that digital payments may be positively impacted.
Although the short-term economic impacts of the outbreak are terribly detrimental to the lives of many, she said, it will also accelerate the penetration of digitised financial services in Asia.
“From being in lockdown for weeks, people are starting to see that digitisation should be a priority,” she told Michael.
When it comes to investment, private bank private banks and asset managers are displaying a higher level of engagement with digital platform solutions.
Insurance Penetration in Southeast Asia
Michael and Jennifer then went on to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on the insurance industry. COVID-19 has the potential to drive up insurance penetration in Southeast Asia, Jennifer said.
This is because the instability brought by the outbreak will make people more risk-averse.
“Suddenly, things that people thought weren’t risks are now at risk,” she explained.
However, it is also up to the insurers in this region to offer products that are suited to the region, she noted.
Because Southeast Asia’s middle class hasn’t been around for long, the level of financial literacy in the region may not be that high yet. For this reason, insurers need to play their role in helping consumers educate themselves about financial products that are valuable to them.
Michael and Jennifer also talked about the accelerated growth of InsurTech after COVID-19. Data analytics, in particular, will start playing a bigger role in the underwriting process.
As healthcare services become more digitised, there will be more data available for insurers to make more accurate calculations of insurance premiums going forward.
How Will the Healthcare Sector Change?
Being specialised in ventures in the healthcare sector, Jennifer offered her insights on how the novel coronavirus will potentially shape the healthcare industry in its aftermath.
Firstly, she discussed with Michael the continued bifurcation of healthcare services. While this trend may sadly continue, she said, healthcare services will benefit from the rise of newer health tech. In particular, telehealth services are starting to gain traction in the region as consumers start seeking remote healthcare options.
The healthcare industry can be very conservative. There is always a worry that adopting the wrong technology can be detrimental to the hospital.
However, the outbreak has changed this attitude, lowering the barrier of adoption for many healthcare technologies.
But how will this change the way healthcare services are provided? To find out more about the aftermath of this global pandemic, check out this episode of the Asia Tech Podcast today.
Asia Tech Podcast - Episode 71 - Jennifer Ho - Principal, Dymon Asia Ventures - The Aftermath of COVID-19
You should also take a look at this report published by Google and Temasek on the Internet E-conomy in Southeast Asia in 2019.
