Hong Kong – Multinational insurance company FWD Group has announced a five-year agreement for technology services with Amazon Web Services (AWS) as part of FWD’s cloud-first strategy.

As FWD Group’s strategic cloud provider, AWS will continue to host core business applications, ranging from finance to customer and insurance agent interfaces. 

The extended partnership with AWS will also provide FWD with greater agility, scalability, and resilience as FWD continues to progressively move away from operating its own onsite data centres.

Examples of previous collaborations with AWS include Omne by FWD, which offers a customer-focused digital self-service and claims process that earned strong net promoter score ratings since its introduction in 2022. 

FWD was also supported by AWS in its development of a cloud-based centralised finance hub for collecting, validating, and processing financial, investment, and actuarial data in FWD.

Between 2021 and 2023, FWD saw significant growth in certificates awarded by cloud providers, which included AWS Skills Guild, a programme that builds cloud fluency across an organisation, which trained more than 600 FWD employees and contractors.

Talking about this extended collaboration, Sandeep Pandey, group chief technology & operations officer of FWD Group, said, “At FWD, cloud computing is a holistic business strategy, not just a priority for the technology function. This digital-first mindset has delivered operational infrastructure and capabilities that are not only secure and cloud-based, but also fully integrated across business functions and with valued partners like AWS.”

”With these foundations in place, we can now further scale our generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) deployment in an efficient, effective and responsible way, in line with our vision of changing the way people feel about insurance,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Francessca Vasquez, vice president of professional services and generative artificial intelligence innovation centre at AWS, commented, “AWS has been supporting companies in the financial and insurance industry around the world to better serve their customers with its cloud and AI technologies for more than a decade.”

“FWD Group’s ambition of harnessing the power of cloud and generative AI demonstrates their commitment to digital transformation and customer-centricity. We are excited to continue supporting FWD Group with AWS’s proven reliability and capabilities, helping them accelerate innovation, save cost, drive efficiency and expand their business,” she concluded.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Multinational insurance company FWD Group has announced that Aman Chowla has been appointed as the new chief executive officer for its Malaysian life insurance business. Moreover, the local life insurance business will be also rebranded from Gibraltar BSN Life Berhad to FWD Insurance Berhad.

Chowla brings with him more than 20 years of experience in the life and general insurance industry, having held chief executive officer and chief operating officer roles for multinational insurance companies across Southeast Asia.

“FWD’s commitment to changing the way people feel about insurance, and its exciting growth plans in Malaysia, were defining factors in my decision to join the company. I look forward to working closely with my new colleagues to bring FWD’s easy-to-understand products and services to more people in Malaysia,” he stated.

These developments for FWD Group in Malaysia follow the recent completion of the company’s investment, together with other investors, in the business formerly known as Gibraltar BSN, on 3 April 2023.

Meanwhile, Binayak Dutta, managing director for emerging markets and group chief distribution officer at FWD Group, commented, “We are delighted to welcome Aman to FWD to lead and grow our life insurance business in Malaysia. It’s an exciting time as we introduce our FWD brand to even more Malaysians and create a full-service offering in the country.”

Dutta added, “Aman is a seasoned industry veteran with great career experience and success in Malaysia. We look forward to leveraging his deep expertise in a market with fantastic long-term growth potential.”

FWD Group first entered the Malaysian market in 2019 as a provider of family takaful products via FWD Takaful Berhad. Later that year, the company established its regional technology and innovation hub in Kuala Lumpur, with a focus on delivering best-in-class technology and supporting innovation across the whole of FWD Group’s business.

Singapore – Insurance company FWD Group has appointed ONE Esports to drive the gaming and esports vertical of FWD’s flagship lifestyle app Omne, aiming to change the way the esports community feels about insurance.

The partnership will span across Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam, deepening FWD Group’s reach and engagement within the gaming and esports community in Asia.

Omne is a new mobile app by FWD Group that empowers individuals with a unique set of value propositions centred on personalised goal-based journeys to help bring the best out of them. The app is also designed to help people celebrate living and empower micro-habits for everyday success.

As part of the partnership, ONE Esports will run an integrated marketing campaign aimed at boosting awareness and promoting the download of Omne. The campaign will see collaborations with popular gaming personalities and promotional content that will be amplified through ONE Esports’ digital channels.

In addition, ONE Esports will also produce exclusive experiences and contribute gaming and esports content, such as articles and videos, to be hosted on the app. These experiences include interviews with professional esports athletes, as well as a mini content series that gets up close and personal with esports personalities.

Troy Barnes, group chief transformation officer at FWD Insurance, said, “Our flagship mobile app, Omne, reflects our vision of changing the way people feel about insurance by anticipating their lifestyle needs. Asia’s increasingly digital and mobile population is one of the fastest growing regions in terms of esports audiences – a clear sign that esports is pushing into the mainstream. We’re excited by the possibilities to scale up our partnership with ONE Esports and build brand affinity with the passionate esports community in Asia.”

Meanwhile, Carlos Alimurung, CEO at ONE Esports, commented, “ONE Esports and FWD launched a successful partnership last year, and we are thrilled to expand the scope this year. Working with them on their Omne app avails more opportunities for us to create better fan experiences and grow the esports ecosystem across Asia.”

He added, “It is great to see FWD, an internationally renowned brand, doubling down on its focus and investments in esports, and we are honoured to be the platform of choice for their efforts to deepen engagement with the community.”

Hong Kong – Insurance company FWD Group has launched a new brand campaign that spotlights its promise to encourage and help empower people in Asia to celebrate living.

Developed in partnership with TBWA\ Singapore, Sixtoes TV, and AIRBAG, the new campaign includes remotely filmed and produced videos in five locations. It capitalises on the strength of the highly recognisable ‘play’ symbol, consistent with the FWD philosophy that insurance should be a source of empowerment to enjoy life and celebrate it with confidence.

Titled ‘press play’, the campaign is inspired by the stories of six, real-life heroes and features real moments and experiences as they navigate common themes that are impacting the day-to-day lives of people across the region. The people featured each took moments of pause to reflect on their lives and understand their personal objectives and dreams, in order to press play on reconnecting with loved ones, following their passions, taking risks, and changing careers.

Ryan Jong Hoon Kim, FWD’s group chief digital and marketing officer, shared that their new brand campaign reflects the opportunities and challenges that people are facing as they think about their futures, and they want to inspire everyone to ‘press play’ to actively pursue their professional and personal passions and dreams.

“Our vision is to transform the industry by changing the way people feel about insurance. The campaign’s message of empowering individuals to celebrate living is a fitting expression of that commitment and our brand promise,” said Kim.

Meanwhile, Andy Grant, executive creative director of TBWA, said, “The creative idea ‘press play’ is a call to action to inspire and enable people to go out and press play on all the things that they are holding back on. For the campaign, we searched all across Asia to find real stories of people who are doing this. We hope that these stories inspire everyone to go out and press play today!”

Robin Nayak, chief strategy officer of TBWA, commented, “We recognised early on, how FWD’s invitation to celebrate living has never been so apt as it is now. So our approach to strategy was not to re-think it, but to find the most powerful cultural triggers to give it meaning: the real things people across this region had been forced to pause that FWD gives them the means to press play on.”

The campaign is now live in the Philippines and Vietnam across multiple media including TV, social, and digital media channels, and will feature in other FWD markets across Asia in the coming weeks and months.

Hong Kong – Insurance company FWD Group has launched a new mobile app called ‘omne’, which aims to empower individuals with a unique set of value propositions centred on personalised goal-based journeys.

‘omne’ is designed to help people celebrate living through tools that foster micro-habits and achieve daily goals. It also provides a suite of activities and content – including music, mini-games, sketching, and health, as well as wellbeing, and a vast array of engaging features – that are personalised to an individual’s preferences and interests. Additionally, the app intends to expand its capabilities to offer self-service functions for FWD Insurance customers in the coming weeks and months.

Troy Barnes, FWD’s group chief transformation officer, shared that a critical part of how they’re changing the way people feel about insurance is reimagining how they bring value to, and anticipate, the evolving demands of Asia’s ever-more digital and mobile population.

“‘omne’ brings a new dimension to how people achieve their personal goals, with an engaging experience that creates micro-habits from the convenience of their mobile device,” said Barnes.

‘omne’ is now available in all FWD markets, and can be downloaded for free on both the Apple and Google app stores.

In June 2022, FWD announced its foray into launching its first-ever NFT collection. The move aims to further enhance customer experiences with a diverse suite of engagement activities extended to the metaverse so that people can pursue their passions and live life to the fullest anywhere, anytime.

Hong Kong – Insurance group FWD is launching a podcast series titled ‘Changing the way people feel about insurance…with FWD’, in an aim to freshen peoples’ perspective towards insurance. 

The podcast will offer insights into FWD’s innovative approach and areas of expertise as well as the exciting trends in Asia’s dynamic insurance industry by means of expertise from FWD’s leadership team across Asia.

Its CEO, Huynh Thanh Phong is the first guest for the pilot episode of FWD’s podcast series. The episode centered around his personal philosophy that inspired his work, revealing what his customers have taught him, and describes how FWD is taking a new approach to a legacy industry.

Huynh-Thanh-Phong-FWD-CEO
Huynh Thanh Phong, FWD Group CEO

Hosted by broadcast journalist and writer Fiona Mattesini from podcast production group The Podcast People, FWD’s future podcast episodes will be focused on FWD’s customers, business partners, and employees and will cover topics ranging from FWD’s brand and culture, to its customer-led approach, to technologies and industry trends that are driving business initiatives.

“We’re delighted to announce our first-ever podcast series which is designed to bring powerful stories and helpful insights and information to our customers, partners, and employees located all across Asia. FWD is a digital-first insurer that prides itself on innovation, so launching a unique and educational podcast is a very logical step and aligns with our ambition to engage and inspire our customers in new and exciting ways,” said Azim Mithani, FWD chief of staff.

He added, “Today’s audiences are looking for original, on-demand content that sheds new light on old topics. This is exactly what our new podcast series is all about and we hope it will allow us to illuminate trends and leading-edge solutions in insurance to our audiences throughout Asia.”

Meanwhile, Bernadette Stevens, FWD Vice President for Brand and Marketing, said, “Our new podcast series will enable us to start a fresh conversation in what is a largely unoccupied space in the Asian insurance industry. Our aim is to stimulate interest in insurance and explain complicated subject matters in a creative and accessible way. At the same time, we are providing access to deeply candid conversations with FWD executives that illustrate exactly why we’re different and ahead of the curve, and ultimately changing the way people feel about insurance.”

FWD’s future podcast episodes will be released every two weeks, and are available on online platforms Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify.