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PROFILE
Winnie Wong Story Jacqueline Blondell
The best of both worlds Winnie Wong runs two completely different insurance companies in Hong Kong. One is a traditional general insurance company; the other a cheeky digital start-up. And what she learns at one helps her at the other.
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hen Winnie Wong joined Asia Insurance as CEO four years ago, she had no idea that she would soon be launching one of the most innovative insurance concepts in Hong Kong. In October 2019, two years after the Hong Kong Insurance Authority announced it would be granting virtual insurance licences, Avo was the first recipient of a general insurance licence. This independent entity is headed by Wong in a joint venture between Asia Insurance, investment fund Two Sigma and Hillhouse Capital founder Zhang Lei, an early investor in tech juggernauts Baidu and Tencent. Juggling the operations of a traditional insurance company alongside a digital start-up is a challenging undertaking. But Wong is cheerful, relaxed and unfazed by the efforts to bring Avo to fruition while running one of Hong Kong’s largest general insurers. ‘Insurance used to be more formal and now I’m running between the two offices every day. I have to get “younger” and closer to the team,’ she acknowledges. Avo’s first birthday was in October 2020. ‘It’s a very important milestone for us, and there have definitely been both challenges and opportunities,’ says Wong. On the opportunity side of the equation, Avo presented a clean slate. ‘I don’t have any legacy system issues that face traditional insurance companies,’ she says. ‘I was able to shape a new culture that has drive, energy and passion with a young and energetic team, most of whom are in their 20s and half of whom have technology backgrounds. And, I don’t have to worry about the business channels, because it’s totally virtual enterprise.’
JOURNAL // ISSUE 04 2020 // ANZIIF.COM
Two different worlds
OPPOSITE Winnie Wong says her learnings from launching start-up Avo have helped her to future-proof Asia Insurance.
Thankfully, neither of the two businesses Wong oversees cannibalise each other. While Asia Insurance is primarily a B2B operation, Avo focuses on selling lifestyle, health and financial protection plans directly to consumers, with the intent of ‘integrating insurance into people’s everyday lives’. Avo even ventured into people’s wardrobes, coming up with a ‘shoe policy’ late last year. The clever marketing ploy was a joint venture with Hong Kong footwear chain Mirabell, aimed at highlighting that the brand can provide ‘instant protection to all walks of life’. Customers who purchased a pair of shoes from the chain during the campaign period were entitled to ‘shoe protection’ by registering on Avo’s website. If the insured shoes were lost or damaged during the coverage period, policyholders would be compensated with a voucher to purchase a new pair. Avo, which has been launching a new policy or solution every month, uses big data and deep machine learning to provide risk profiling and pricing more accurately. ‘A lot of the products we’ve introduced to the market are totally new,’ explains Wong. ‘For example, e-wallets are becoming popular in Hong Kong, but their unauthorised use can result in financial loss. We acknowledged this and were the first to launch e-wallet insurance.’ Digital smarts and a new approach to customer protection also helped Avo develop a cancer plan covering the eight most prevalent cancers in Hong Kong. ‘This was a breakthrough, because historically cancer protection covers all different types of cancers, which made the product very expensive and very
