GCash expands insurance offerings

MANILA, Philippines — E-wallet giant GCash is expanding its insurance offerings with new sector-specific products that are eyed for launch this year.

Jay Young, head of GCash insurance arm GInsure, said the company’s target is to add to its portfolio this year products such as Shari’ah-compliant insurance as well as crop insurance.

“Pretty soon, we’ll be having a Shari’ah-complaint insurance product for our Muslim brothers and sisters. We are in talks with an insurance company already,” Young said on the sidelines of the BusinessWorld Economic Forum yesterday.

“We are also in talks with an insurance company who does crop insurance for our farmers,” he said.

Young said GInsure is looking to launch the Shari’ah-complaint insurance product by the third quarter.

“We’ve already seen clear commitments from the developers. The product has been approved by the Insurance Commission (IC), so technically, it can be sold already,” he said.

For crop insurance, Young said the product is eyed to become available through GInsure by the middle to late fourth quarter.

“We are also in the process of repositioning some of our existing products in order to answer to women, for example. Insurance particularly designed for women. Insurance that is particularly designed for the underserved or the ones living below the poverty line. So we are doing that,” he said.

GInsure is a one-stop shop for insurance products that is available through the GCash app. It provides a low premium but comprehensive coverage for personal accidents, medical services, car insurance, income loss, and even online shopping, bills, cars and pets.

Young said that all insurance products within the GInsure platform are regulated by the IC.

“The insurance company underwriting or issuing the product has to have a license in the IC. Second, the product that this particular company is offering inside GInsure should also be approved by the IC,” he said.

GInsure currently has 15 insurance partners, offering 58 different products across 11 categories.

Since it started in 2021, GInsure has been able to insure 20 million users across 55 million policies.

“So it’s really democratizing financial services for the Filipinos. And I think that’s what Filipinos need in this time of uncertainty. It’s security and certainty through financial products that are easy to understand, affordable and very accessible through GCash,” Young said.