Imagine and Disrupt:

Managing the future in life insurance

Chief Strategy Officer

EFU Life Assurance Ltd
Colors of Corporate Catwalk – 12 November 2014, Karachi
Hero
 Hero
• 1. …courage or ability,
admired for brave deeds
… noble qualities.

• 2. …..in the opinion of

others, has heroic
qualities…. has
performed a heroic act…
is regarded as a model or
ideal
 Leave a legacy
• Securing your family’s future with Life Insurance makes you a Hero

• The Promise that we make to you, is a Promise that you make to

your loved ones

• Heroes leave legacies

• You are a hero to your wife, husband, children, parents, loved ones,
when you do something that impacts their current and future life
positively

• Life Insurance makes you leave a Legacy

The story of Imagining and Disrupting
 The Disruptors
• View assumptions that define an industry’s
collective mindset as an opportunity for
differentiation.

• Assumptions grounded in strong empirical

evidence; can still be challenged in the right
context.
 The Disruptors
• Characteristics of disruptive businesses
– at least in their initial stages, can include:
• lower gross margins,
• smaller target markets,
• Unusual products and services
• Overall proposition may not appear as attractive as
existing solutions when compared against traditional
performance metrics
 The past – life insurance environment
• Monopoly of Government
• Antiquated products and processes
• Lack of customer service
• Non-existent use of technology
• Stereotyped image of insurance sales agent
 EFU Life’s choice at beginning
• Follow the industry norms, and compete in
the same landscape

OR

• Disrupt the norm and redefine the landscape

to create a new playing field
Products, pre-EFU Life
• Black box
• “With profits”
policies
• Was considered
the norm
• No other option
available to
customers
The 1st Disruption - Unit linking

• No longer a black box

 The 1st Disruption - Unit linking
• Totally disrupted the product thought-process
• Moved fundamentally away from a black-box
approach
• Significant technology support was needed to
make it work
• Unit linked offered:
– Transparency
– Choice
– Tracking of investment performance
– Immediate reflection of investment returns in policy
value
 The 1st Disruption - Unit linking
• Skeptics thought this “open architecture”
approach would fail
• It didn’t
• EFU Life’s product model was copied by all other
private life insurance companies
• Today, 99% of individual life new business in
private sector is Unit Linked
• Main reason for the growth in private life
insurance industry – average 30% p.a. in last 5
years
 Needs covered by Unit Linked Plans

• Savings
• Child Education &
Marriage
• Retirement
• Capital
Accumulation
The 2nd Disruption - A new breed of life
insurance salesman
The 2nd Disruption - A new breed of life
insurance salesman
• Professional training
• Personal grooming
• Compulsory
examination
• Continuous refresher
trainings
• “Consultants”, not
“Agents”
The 2nd Disruption - A new breed of life
insurance salesman
• The industry norm was to allow anyone to sell,
no specific focus on training, grooming,
monitoring
• Skeptics thought EFU Life’s approach to life
insurance sales force would fail
• It didn’t
• Today EFU Life has a professional sales force of
over 3,500, with 175 sales branches; the
largest in the private life insurance sector
The 3rd Disruption – replacing paper
with tablets
 The 3rd Disruption – replacing paper
with tablets
• Traditionally life insurance is perceived to have
too much documentation –
– and that is not untrue!

• Insurance companies take too

much time to issue a policy

• Insurance sales agent consider paper forms to be

an integral part of their kit
The 3rd Disruption – replacing paper
with tablets
• “Intelligent real time
automated
underwriting”
• Alternative to paper
based insurance forms
• Internet connectivity
• Policy issued in 15
minutes
 In Retrospect…
• Disruptive innovations, especially those that
transform an industry’s business model seem
very obvious in retrospect
 Trends leading to the future
• Technology - From wearable to implantable
 Trends leading to the future
• Organ regeneration – life extension
 Trends leading to the future
• Increased life expectancy
I never think of the future…
it comes soon enough.

Albert Einstein
Thank you!