KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 -- A new Manulife Asia Care survey found COVID-19 concerns have prompted many life insurance policyholders in Malaysia to adopt new habits around a healthier lifestyle and rely increasingly on e-commerce, online and digital technology.
The survey involving 300 insurance customers found that 41 per cent or less than half of the respondents perceived the pandemic to be getting more serious in the next six months.
In a statement, Manulife said greater use of technology during the pandemic was evident and more pronounced among the Malaysian respondents compared with those surveyed across the region.
“Forty-nine per cent of the respondents found ways to be more physically healthy than before COVID-19 and 32 per cent started tracking their mental health. In the next 18 months, 37 per cent will continue to find ways to maintain their physical health and 21 per cent will track their mental health status.”
According to Manulife, 52 per cent of the respondents said the pandemic had caused them to review and manage personal finance more often than pre COVID-19; there was also a growing appetite among them for insurance.
Manulife Insurance Berhad chief executive officer, Lee Sang Hui said the importance of being financially protected heightens among the people during times of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
"During such uncertainties, insurance coverage is an important financial product to have, thus the life insurance sector is expected to remain resilient in such challenging environment,” he said.
He said life insurance penetration rate in Malaysia was less than five per cent, far below the rates in markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore, making Malaysia among the region’s under-insured markets.
Thus, Lee said it was interesting that in Malaysia, 63 per cent of the insurance customers surveyed said they planned to buy new additional insurance in the next 18 months, with Hospitalisation (26 per cent), accident (24 per cent), life (23 per cent), health (21 per cent) and critical illness (21 per cent) being the main new products considered.
Manulife opined COVID-19 has accelerated trends already in place, notably digitisation in lifestyle whereby the acceptance and adoption of such trends provide another reason to believe that the changing habits would, in part at least, be permanent.
“In Malaysia, digitalisation and use of smartphones was already enabling greater numbers of Malaysians to get access to financial services and other online tools. COVID-19 has helped to reinforce the value of digital tools and services,” it said.
The survey showed greater willingness to switch from offline to shopping online (65 per cent), use online services such as for payment, shopping and food delivery (76 per cent) and, in particular, use online tools for news and socialising (66 per cent and 58 per cent respectively).
-- BERNAMA
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