 So we're here live in Singapore with coin telegraph sponsored block show Asia Please Tell me what brought you to this show? Well, it was very nice of the coin telegraph team to send me a free ticket So I didn't have anything better to do so I thought I'd pop along can I ask you just real quick question How do I get a free ticket? I think that's what you need to do is you need to put your Expression of interest okay on the front-end website, and then that goes on to a new piece of technology That will make that happen really quickly through a smart contract. So we should put them on the blockchain. That's the one Okay, I like this already. Let's start fucking about It's a pleasure to meet you can you introduce yourself to the rest of the coin telegraph world sure so I'm Simon Phipps I'm based in Hong Kong been in Asia for about 11 years. I'm an insurance guy I work for a company called the digital insurer, which is the world's largest platform that curates content around new innovations in the insurance world Okay, so what brings you in particular to the black show Asia? Yeah, well, I'm a couple of things firstly from a personal passion point of view I sort of discovered I guess the potential for blockchain at a personal level three or four years ago And I fundamentally believe that we're just entering a new period of our lives Which is just gonna be so much cooler as individuals as the internet evolves to what it perhaps should have been many years ago So the personal level I've got a real interest professionally insurance I've been invested in for a long time in terms of my professional career And I love what it stands for but it's got some sort of problems I guess and they're well known to many customers these cut these problems are around trust I think lots of customers around the world don't trust our sector as much as they should The customer experience is is lacking compared to a lot of what we experience in other industries like retail And I think because the industry has been going for so long most of the companies have got lots of legacies They're quite inefficient So despite the fact that the world needs insurance and we all need insurance a lot of what is there at the moment Probably needs to move on a bit quicker than it is and I think that blockchain technology in all its forms Has the potential to really move the industry on for the benefit of customers and both insurers and their shareholders We see a lot of Disruption in the insurance business. Do you think blockchain is going to be the most disruptive technology for the insurance industry? I think it has the potential to support the Fast evolution of the insurance industry the insurance market globally has been around for a long time There are areas of it that are up right for disruption, but there are quite a lot of reasons why Insurance has had to be regulated It's not the easiest of sectors to transform and disrupt with new technology I Don't think we're going to see all the big insurers sort of collapsing in the next couple of years I think we're going to see a lot more focus of this technology Working with the existing insurance community to see how things can be done better better for customers and better for their shells Do you think that it's going to be the old guard that will come in and create let's say R&D labs? To approach that or do you think it's going to be an opportunity for the new guards to come in and take a hold of these technologies and approach what what I see as Sharing in insurance. Yeah, so I think you're absolutely right. The answer to that is yes. I see both You know some of the big existing insurers are going to fall away because they won't be able to change quick enough I think and the history is littered with examples of big companies that have not kept pace with the market and fallen away So if insurers aren't increasingly agile and increasingly innovative, they're going to be challenged going forward But I think some are investing heavily already in lots of different parts of R&D block chain is one AI is another Genomics is another list goes on to change what they do day-to-day at the moment and also look at new ways of doing things Completely for customers. So I think insurers some will survive and thrive others won't The other thing I would say is there will be new entrants using this new technology that capitalized on opportunities to really exploit the future of the industry and We all know and I've just talked to the session on this There are some quite interesting and attractive things looking for the insurance sector You know to list a few the populations are aging all around Asia and all around the world Right, and this creates the need for more savings new pensions people are going to live longer exactly protection gaps are getting bigger Middle-class of rising all around the world and most importantly. I think it's a big opportunity for blockchain There are probably three or four billion people in the world who've just got no insurance, right? They don't have access to banks and they don't have access to financial protection exactly and blockchain lends itself to getting in touch with and providing very small you know policies and Perhaps on-demand coverage so people that would otherwise not be able to access it and this is hugely exciting You mentioned on-demand Access that seems to be huge right now Is that going to be the one area that? Blockchain could dominate in the insurance world. So well, I'm gonna Blockchain I think you know can become part of a new fabric in a new way of doing things on-demand I'm really excited about because in our joke about this But there aren't many things we buy in our lives and stick with for 25 years But a lot of insurance policies are still told for 25 years or more and that raises questions around whether what people bought Is still right for them whether it's still fair value if you break things down then you get rid of these concerns The blockchain technology smart contracts should present opportunities for people to get more relevant coverage and Savings at the time that it's right for them in the way that's right for them So I do think on-demand is a huge huge new thing that's coming through for existing insurers and new ones on Sort of flight delays as an obvious one Using smart contracts, you know taking all the pain out and automatic payments Absolutely lots of little examples like that will come through the next few years super So we've talked a lot about insurance. There's a lot going on around the the coin telegraph conference What outside of insurance excites you what industry outside of the insurance industry excites you and you think will be Transformed by the application of blockchain technologies. Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure I see one particular sector that excites me most I just see the whole technology is just transformation for our lives personally, right? And you know, it's a it's a bit of a cliche for lots of people watching this But you know, we know that the internet's been great for Almost an instantaneous movement of information, but it all falls down when we try and do things of value around these items on eBay Or Taobao and then we need to go into, you know, various third parties. It's just going to be great for us to be I think as consumers feeling that we're getting things when we want them in a channel We want them at the price that's fair for us. Absolutely, and I think blockchain will be one of the ways in which that happens quicker One more thing before we run What's your most in that and I mean embarrassing there's only between you and me and a few million What is your most embarrassing moment with crypto or a blockchain technology? Well, crikey Yeah, okay. Well, it's just only a few million. I mean, I think it's a again It's a bit of a cliche really I it's just a sort of regret thing really I mean, I got in late understanding this but I did feel in my gut right at the beginning that this is going to change the world Right and if I look back at my personal investment strategy way off, you know, I should have gone all in a couple of years ago I think we all yeah, we all miss that one. Yeah, yeah, so I don't really have any regrets at all I mean, I've always been a fan. I see it as part of a bunch of a few other things that together for our industry Customs just gonna change the world. I don't you know, if there was one thing I would probably call this one out. Oh fantastic. Okay So for our subscribers, we'd like to know is there One Ico that you would love to see in existence right now that you have not identified Okay, I'll give you two examples, right? One I think I was interestingly chatting to someone at this conference earlier, which has been fantastic by the way And they're on this but I think this is a big thing they're on and that's ensuring Cryptocurrencies and our individual and maybe corporate risks around movement of decentralized sort of enabled currency and tokens Everyone's taking it as a leap of faith and taking a personal risk at the moment And as the value of these things increases the risk level increases for us insurance is all about You know basically underwriting risk and here's a big and growing risk opportunity So I think whilst the insurance sector is looking at ways in which you can avoid the technology for consumers In the traditional sense actually crypto and people buying coins and tokens is a real hot thing right now So there's nothing there at the moment which can ensure that risk It would be great for all of us to accelerate adoption and drive the prices even higher At a customer level in terms of insurance one of the things we've seen in in markets like the UK is aggregators Right, and these are comparison sites to show you which is the best value Those were quite blunt frankly and they've kind of compressed the margins of insurance in the UK being better for customers But ultimately you're still buying annual contracts and stuff. We talked about on demand earlier I'd love to see a future in which actually our risks are real-time breaks out to the market And actually we don't really touch the insurance product to ourselves at all That's all on the blockchain knowing they you know the carriers know who they're taking on and it moves from carrier to carrier now That's not particularly good for insurers because it's very Narrowly priced so you need a different tech stack in a different way thinking about profit But from a customer point of view imagine driving a car and you're not even worried about insurance You know you're getting the best price at any point in the future. It won't be our car But for the next few years that would be a cool area to focus All right, we're gonna. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy the balance of the show I'm Steven Chase and this is coin telegraph. Take it. Thanks guys