Ravi Chandran
General insurance products with telco-centric benefits announced with new partnership between Singtel and Great Eastern
Singtel and Great Eastern on 26 August, announced their partnership to launch a range of general insurance products spanning home, motor and travel, jointly developed by both companies. These innovative insurance offerings, underwritten by Great Eastern, seek to address customer needs arising from their increasingly digital lifestyles, featuring telco-centric benefits that are industry firsts. This collaboration expands Singtel’s foray into insurance, tapping its wide customer base to reach more than 60% of all households in Singapore, and valuable customer insights that help tailor insurance products to customers’ lifestyle needs.
To start, Singtel and Great Eastern will be introducing Singtel Home Protect, a home insurance first that provides coverage for both telco bills and home contents. The plan reimburses Singtel broadband expenses besides covering renovation, furniture, appliances, valuables and personal effects, which most home owners do not insure today. Insurance that bundles both home contents and broadband is synergistic, as home owners typically sign up for or re-contract their broadband services when they shift or renovate their homes.
Mr Yuen Kuan Moon, CEO of Consumer Singapore at Singtel said, “With the shift to work from home since the onset of COVID-19, many people have made home improvements to create a more conducive environment. This makes protecting their homes with Singtel Home Protect more important than ever. On top of better coverage for home belongings, we want to give our customers additional peace of mind by providing extra protection for their telco bills. We’ve worked closely with Great Eastern to enhance traditional insurance with the kind of telco benefits that speak to our reliance on technology and this will also be extended to motor and travel insurance.”
In the coming weeks, Singtel and Great Eastern will also be offering car owners motor insurance. For travellers keen to tour the world once more travel restrictions lift, Singtel will be introducing travel insurance with mobile-related benefits. This is another first in Singapore as it includes unique benefits such as reimbursement of Singtel mobile bill during hospitalisation due to an accident, and of additional Singtel mobile data expenses incurred due to delays in travel, as well as repair or replacement of mobile phone in case of loss.
Mr Ryan Cheong, Managing Director of Digital for Business, Great Eastern, said, “The partnership with a trusted telco like Singtel is yet another milestone in our digital affinity strategy and expansion into new customer segments as a leading regional insurer. To provide value-added protection to augment Singtel’s existing customer offer, we leveraged data insights to develop affordable, relevant general insurance solutions with unique benefits to help protect their everyday needs. Through continuous engagement and a seamless consumer purchase journey, we are making customised protection solutions easily accessible to Singtel customers to lifeproof their assets through home, and later motor and travel insurance.”
Singtel Home Protect is offered to Singtel broadband customers at launch and will be made available to all Singtel customers later. For as low as S$6.50 a month, they can sign up for the plan on the Singtel website or through My Singtel app. The plan covers reimbursement of Singtel bills of S$280 per month for up to three months, and up to S$80,000 for home contents and renovation in the event of disruption to services due to a fire or other types of damage to the home. Available for S$84 for 12 months of coverage, or S$156 for 24 months of coverage, customers can enjoy 10% off Home Protect from now until 18 September 2020. For more details, visit singtel.com/homeprotect.
The launch of these general insurance products adds to Singtel’s expanding range of insurance offerings for its customers.
Singtel first made its foray into the local insurance market last July, when it launched free personal insurance cover for its prepaid customers as part of mobile data plans. Earlier in the year, Singtel extended free 30-day COVID-19 insurance coverage to prepaid and Dash customers. Singtel also introduced an insurance savings plan for Dash customers who wish to start saving regularly for the future.
In another recent announcement, Singtel said that its Dash customers now have more reasons to spend on the Dash app and earn rewards. The all-new Dash Rewards programme enables Dash users to earn points on all payments and overseas remittance to redeem rewards including Singtel mobile services, grocery, dining, retail and lifestyle vouchers.
Dash Rewards is designed to add more value by allowing points to be earned with every dollar spent in-store at Dash’s 60,000 merchants islandwide, online with Dash Visa Virtual Account at millions of global merchants, as well as with each remittance overseas, offering customers a wide catalogue of rewards for instant redemption.
The Dash Rewards catalogue features over 50 vouchers from some of the most popular and frequently patronised merchants by Dash customers. On top of Singtel mobile services such as hi! SIM Card and 1GB data vouchers, customers can look forward to rewards that support their daily lifestyles, with vouchers from supermarkets and convenience stores such as Giant, Cold Storage and 7-Eleven; transport providers like Grab and Gojek; food delivery services GrabFood and FoodPanda; retailers like Sephora, Zalora, Adidas; as well as lifestyle and entertainment partners such as Steam, Razer and more.
The Dash Rewards programme features three tiers — Silver, Gold and Platinum – with each higher tier enabling users to accumulate points at an accelerated earn rate. As part of the launch, Dash is also offering double the Dash reward points from now until end December when users pay with Dash, giving new and existing users a helping hand to hit higher membership tiers quicker.
