ISLAMABAD/Karachi: Oct 31 : The SECP’s Commissioner for Insurance and Information technology, Aamir Khan has said SECP’s 5-year strategy plan for the insurance sector targeted at utilising technology to exploit Pakistan’s enormous untapped potential in insurance.
He was speaking to Insurtech Conference 2023, organised by Pakistan Fintech Network to deliberate upon the critical theme of innovation through use of technology in Pakistan’s Insurance sector. All the insurance CEO’s, members of boards and experts attended the conference.
Khan said that Pakistan ‘s insurtech is still in its infancy. He pointed out the share of Insurtech sector is less than 1 percent of the overall premium written. This is an undesirable statistic but a reality nonetheless. Globally, as of 2023, there are over 3,400 insurtech companies, up from 1,500 companies in 2018. There are at least 30 unicorns in the insurtech space, he added.
In view of the above, the primary goal of SECP’s insurtech policy is to enhance the customer experience via customization, increase operational efficiency, reduce risk, use data-driven decision-making, and, as a result, increase insurance penetration. SECP, in line with these key goals, has been facilitating the merging of technology and insurance, khan said.
According to Grand View Research, the global insurtech industry was valued at $5.4 billion in 2022. The revenue forecast for 2030 is $152 billion. Can Pakistan contribute $1 billion to this expected $152 billion in the next 7 years? The answer to this question is an emphatic “Yes” for me. Pakistan has a huge potential to be a new star of fintech in general and insurtech in particular. There are 190 million mobile users in the country. This coupled with the presence of 130 million internet users allows insurtech to explore endless possibilities, Aamir khan explained.
In Pakistan today, only 3% of vehicles are insured against 30 million registered vehicles. Similarly, against a population of 220 million, there are only 8 million individual life policies. According to an estimate, the total number of farmers in the country stands above 8 million. However, less than 1 million farmers are covered under any sort of insurance policy. Among the 32 million recorded properties, only 0.3 million are insured. This is the story of every sector, every sphere, and every insurance class. The 40 companies registered in Pakistan can double in number and there will still be market opportunity for new players. So, the market potential that exists in the Pakistani insurance market is clear and present.