Singaporeans dissatisfied with insurance transparency

And 18% of survey respondents are not even sure if the life insurance they have is right for their needs.

According to a release, Ernst & Young’s Global Insurance Customer Survey highlights how a combination of increased expectations and accessible technology mean that the insurance industry is now facing a far more demanding customer and that insurers who fail to make a rapid move to a more consumer-friendly business model risk being left behind.

The survey of 24,000 insurance customers (7,000 in Asia-Pacific and 1,000 in Singapore) across 23 countries underlines that consumers today are better informed. Globally, consumers have high service expectations. A substantial majority of them are reporting little or no proactive communication from their providers and think that insurers have fallen behind other sectors in customer service and rewarding customer loyalty.

Graham Handy, Asean Insurance Leader at Ernst & Young and Asia-Pacific lead for the Survey, comments: “Our survey found that though there are variations in customer attitudes and behaviors around the globe, there are some consistent underlying themes about what consumers want and where they expect more from insurers.”

In Singapore, about a third of the surveyed customers indicate that they have a positive view of the insurance industry generally, and the majority are neutral. Supporting this positive view of the industry, only 18% of Singapore respondents did not express confidence that the life insurance products they purchased are the right ones for their needs.

In interacting with their service providers, a majority of the Singapore respondents (life insurance: 54%, non-life insurance: 55%) are satisfied with their overall experience of the service by their insurance provider, while the bulk of the remaining respondents are neutral. For the non-life insurance customers, dissatisfied respondents were mainly unhappy about transparency of the terms and conditions (24%), and a lack of discounts (21%). 44% and 33% of non-life insurance customers would like to see improvements in discounts and increased coverage levels respectively.

“The existing overall satisfaction with their insurance experience possibly explains why a majority of the respondents (life insurance: 89%, non-life insurance: 78%) has kept to the same service providers in the last five years. However, consumers are becoming more proactive in educating themselves about their products and their needs, and insurers cannot afford to ignore the frustration with the perceived lack of transparency, pricing and coverage levels,” says Handy. “This is concerning because for those who did switch insurers in the last five years, better product or cheaper price offered by another provider were main drivers of change.”

Contrary to the rest of Asia-Pacific respondents, Singapore respondents rank customer service as a less significant factor when making a purchase decision. Product features and financial stability, and price and trusted brand, are perceived as the top two most important factors for consideration when purchasing life and non-life insurance respectively.