SINGAPORE, July 6 — MSIG Insurance and DBS Bank have launched Singapore’s first “instant” electronic payment service for travel insurance claims.

It will mean travellers who make a successful claim get their money straight away rather than having to wait four days for a cheque to be cleared, the companies said.

DBS and POSB customers who buy MSIG travel insurance plans through the DBS website and sign up for a member login account on MSIG’s customer portal will be able to use the real-time claims payment service.

It was launched two weeks ago and the first claim payment via the real-time service was made last week, an MSIG spokesperson said.

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She added: “Consumers can look forward to easier and faster travel insurance claims payment with this new service.”

Michael Gourlay, CEO of MSIG Insurance, said: “Technology is fast changing the way people are buying and interacting with the sellers. While digitisation can be widespread, we will focus on initiatives that will truly help us to improve our customers’ journey and enhance their overall experience.”

Besides travel claims, the insurance company is looking into introducing a real-time electronic payment service across its range of other products, he added.

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The general insurer offers a wide spectrum of insurance solutions to DBS customers, and around half of MSIG policies distributed through DBS were bought online last year.

The new system replaces the traditional payment by cheque which takes around four days to process.

The instant electronic payment service rides on DBS’ new application programming interface, the DBS Ideal Rapid system.

Jeanette Wong, group head of institutional banking group, DBS Bank said: “We are delighted to support MSIG’s drive to re-define the customer’s travel insurance claims experience towards a more streamlined and immediate digital process by reducing the use of cheque payments.

“This collaboration is part of our broader strategy to work with our clients to co-create new digital experiences for their customers and partners.”

The bank is working with other insurance players to identify areas of process improvement, with a view to improve the consumer experience.

DBS added that transactions are increasingly going online, with a large part of the sector tapping on the bank’s digital solutions such as payment of insurance premiums and signing up for Giro deductions through AXS machines, the Internet and mobile banking. — TODAY