IAG launches fintech incubator in Singapore
Insurance Australia Group (IAG) has agreed to establish a financial technology incubator in Singapore to focus on promoting start-ups targeting innovation in the insurance industry.
The incubator, to be known as Firemark Labs, will be developed in partnership with the Monetary Authority of Singapore with an aim to create new products and services that can be marketed across Australasia and Asia. It follows IAG’s December launch of a A$75 million ($57.5 million) venture fund targeting fintech and artificial intelligence companies.
"The real opportunity here is in combining our experience and knowledge as Australia's largest general insurer, with the fresh thinking of new partners in Singapore who can help us to build a safer future for our customers,” James Orchard, executive general manager for innovation at IAG, said in a statement. “We understand that we can’t innovate alone, so we are looking forward to working with entrepreneurs, technologists, researchers and problem solvers based in Singapore who will bring a global perspective and new ways of working to our business.”
IAG underwrites more than A$11 billion of premium per annum, selling insurance under a number of brands across Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Previous efforts to broaden its talent networks and product development pipelines include support for an Australian fintech incubator in 2015.
Firemark represents a consolidation of Singapore’s regional leadership in fintech ecosystem development. Recent activity on this front otherwise includes PayPal setting up a local incubation program and Marvelstone launching a co-working space in the central business district that is said to be the world's largest fintech hub.
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