UK-based insurtech Honcho partnering with Personal Group’s Hapi is set to disrupt the way that employers offer employee benefits. The partnership will provide Hapi’s 475,000 users with access to Honcho’s motor insurance service, enabling users to choose insurance providers in a convenient way.
Many organisations invest a significant amount of resources into designing and implementing benefits packages to attract and retain top talent, as well as increasing productivity within the organisation.
According to GlobalData’s 2019 UK SME Insurance Survey, 37.2% of SMEs arranged employee benefits through the online channel, making it the most common method to do so. Hapi is a digital platform that aggregates employee benefits from third parties with the aim of ensuring that employees have access to the full extent of their benefits.
It is backed by Personal Group, a prominent player in the employee benefits market. Apps like Hapi that digitise, automate, and democratise the insurance market by leveraging technology are improving the customer journey. Hapi works with over 200 firms and organisations, including DHL, Network Rail, and Stagecoach. Employees are able to go on the Hapi app and see all of their benefits on a single, user-friendly platform.
Typically, employers provide a wide range of benefits to their employees. Private medical insurance, dental plans, and life insurance are examples of common employee benefits. While most employers would commonly use one insurer to provide all benefits, the partnership between Honcho and Hapi is set to provide a different approach, enabling in effect employees to access multiple insurance providers and chose the one that best matches their needs.
Honcho’s reverse-auction financial services platform enables customers to sign up to the insurance marketplace by scanning their driving license. Insurance providers that are also partnered with the app can engage in the reverse-auction system whereby they bid against each other on price and extent of coverage. The customer is then able to select from competing bids for the particular insurance product they would like to purchase.
Through the partnership, customers registered on the Hapi app will gain access to Honcho’s services, in addition to motor insurance policies from several providers including Aviva, Ageas, and Zurich. The partnership illustrates a greater trend in the insurance market towards transparency, simplicity, and technology.
Article Published in Life Insurance International on the 5th Aug 2020
