Etiqa Philippines (Etiqa), an insurtech company, is now offering an accessible payment alternative for consumers through the “Insure now, Pay later” scheme.
Etqia said economic challenges as well as premium payments prevent ordinary Filipinos from normalizing having insurance, at least health insurance.
“This reality has further highlighted the need for insurers to take added measures to bring insurance closer to the average Filipino,” said Noel Tordesillas, head of E-Channel in Etiqa Philippines. “This has been the industry’s mission since the beginning. As we join this thrust, we have made it a point to align with partners within and outside the industry who share our vision to empower more Filipinos to achieve financial security, especially amid inflation, through digital solutions and technology,”
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The popularity of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) especially for consumer goods purchases allowed Etiqa to offer a similar scheme with its Insure Now, Pay Later offering. According to Etiqa, the BNPL business model is expected to grow globally by 14% yearly to $44 billion in 2027 from $18 billion in 2020.
Through a partnership with UBX, an open finance platform, Etiqa now provides an accessible payment alternative to consumers through the “Insure now, Pay later” scheme. The new scheme will leverage UBX’s fintech verticals: BUx’s end-to-end payment solutions platform and Splix’s transact-now-pay-later platform.
Guided by the same BNPL scheme, Etiqa policyholders can now take advantage of a more flexible payment option by settling their premiums on an installment basis. With or without credit cards, Etiqa members can now break their dues into smaller sums. Making payments even more convenient are the 60,000 payment channels of BUx that allow Etiqa’s customers to pay their premiums via online banking, e-wallets, or over-the-counter.
Making insurance accessible to more Filipinos
“While payment and collections are the primary thrust of this partnership, through UBX we can bridge technologies from different industries, fintech to insurtech, for the benefit of the public,” Tordesillas said. “We also provide a less intimidating payment plan and an additional smooth and touchless payment platform for consumers.”
With Etiqa’s Insure Now, Pay Later offering, consumers have access to an added insurance service that can be tailor-made for their current financial capacity. This new feature becomes especially beneficial for financially vulnerable individuals and households who have limited income and are intimidated by the prospect of including insurance premiums in their increasing living expenses.
“We are positive that this process would further ease the long-standing misconception about insurance as an irrelevant, inaccessible, and expensive,” Tordesillas said.
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