Raymond Cheung
Chartered Actuary · CRO · Board Adviser · Singapore
Digital insurance ventures in Asia are moving fast. The boards overseeing them often are not. Governance frameworks built for traditional insurance do not map cleanly onto platform-based, embedded, and AI-driven insurance models — and the gaps are consequential.
Between 2016 and 2018, I led the digital insurance programme at Grab across eight ASEAN markets. We were building embedded insurance products into a super-app serving tens of millions of users — micro-insurance, on-demand motor products, health covers distributed at the point of a ride or food delivery order. The governance challenges were genuinely different from anything I had encountered in traditional insurance.
Traditional insurance governance is built for slow cycles — annual underwriting reviews, quarterly board reporting, regulatory submissions that move at the pace of actuarial assessment. InsurTech operates at product cycles measured in weeks, customer data that changes the risk model in real time, and distribution partnerships that can alter the character of the book overnight. Boards that try to apply the traditional governance template to digital ventures create one of two failure modes: they slow the business to the point of non-competitiveness, or they rubber-stamp management without the tools to provide real oversight.
The specific governance gaps in InsurTech
- Model velocity: AI-driven underwriting and pricing models can iterate faster than a traditional model validation cycle. Boards need a framework for approving model changes at the right level of oversight — not every change, but the changes that matter.
- Data governance: InsurTech businesses are using customer data in ways that traditional insurance regulation did not anticipate. PDPA compliance, cross-border data flows, and the use of behavioural data in underwriting all carry regulatory and reputational risk that boards need to be equipped to govern.
- Partner risk: Embedded insurance depends on platform partnerships. The distribution partner controls the customer relationship, the data, and the context in which the product is sold. Boards need to understand what governance travels with those partnerships and what stays with the insurer.
- Regulatory uncertainty: MAS, OJK, BSP, and other ASEAN regulators are developing InsurTech frameworks at different speeds. A board governing a multi-market digital insurance business needs visibility into the regulatory environment across all operating markets.
“An InsurTech board that meets quarterly and reviews traditional risk reports is not governing the business it thinks it is governing.”
What effective InsurTech governance looks like
The boards I have seen govern digital insurance ventures effectively share several characteristics. They have more frequent board engagement — monthly updates at minimum — because the business environment changes faster than quarterly cycles can capture. They have board members who understand the technology and data dimensions of the business, not just the insurance dimensions. They have clear escalation frameworks that define what management can decide autonomously and what requires board visibility.
They also have a risk function that is designed for the business model — not a traditional insurance risk team that has been asked to adapt. That means a risk framework that includes model risk, data risk, platform risk, and regulatory risk across multiple jurisdictions, reported to the board in terms that directors can engage with.
Building that governance capability is something I help InsurTech boards and their investors do — either as an independent board adviser, or through structured board education engagements. The digital insurance opportunity in Asia is significant. The governance infrastructure needs to be built to match it.
Common Questions
What governance challenges do InsurTech companies face in Asia?
InsurTech companies in Asia face governance challenges around AI model velocity, cross-border data compliance, platform partner risk, multi-jurisdiction regulatory uncertainty, and the mismatch between traditional board reporting cycles and digital business operating speeds.
What should an InsurTech board in Singapore focus on?
An InsurTech board in Singapore should focus on model governance (how AI underwriting models are validated and changed), data governance (PDPA and cross-border data compliance), partner risk (what controls exist over distribution partnerships), and regulatory developments across all operating ASEAN markets.
About the author
Raymond Cheung is a Chartered Actuary, C-suite executive and board adviser with more than 20 years of experience across Asia in risk management, insurance, ESG and corporate governance. He is the CEO of CER Consultancy and an accredited trainer at SMU Academy and the Singapore College of Insurance.