Symbo’s leadership team in Singapore
Standing (L-R): Terrance Ke Chen, software engineer; Laurens Koppelaar, head of international and Singapore CEO; Steve Yong, partnerships lead; Kangwei Wong, operations lead
Seated: Subhajit Mandal, head of product
Singapore-based Symbo Platform Holdings has launched a digital insurance platform, after having obtained an insurance brokerage licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
The platform caters to both retail and corporate customers and offers digital solutions to quickly and seamlessly help purchase and administer a range of general and life insurance products across personal and commercial insurance lines.
Symbo, which was incorporated less than two years ago, is working to streamline the insurance lifecycle while resolving some of the industry’s largest operational and customer pain points, it said in a statement. The firm focuses on data utilisation, workflow automation, and upcoming blockchain-based solutions.
The launch of the Singapore digital brokerage marks the start of Symbo’s Southeast Asian expansion efforts, with Indonesia and Malaysia coming up.
“We’re seeing a major opportunity… to transform insurance and reinsurance in the ASEAN region as digital penetration continues to leapfrog ahead of other regions and demand for risk cover continues to grow with changing demographics,” said Symbo board member Siraj Ali.
Alongside its regional expansion, Symbo has appointed Laurens Koppelaar as head of international and CEO for Singapore, and Subhajit Mandal as head of product.
With extensive insurance sales and marketing experience across Southeast Asia, Koppelaar joins Symbo from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, where he was head of market management for Southeast Asia, leading distribution strategy and market expansion for non-life insurance products across the region.
Meanwhile, Mandal’s career spans insurance, venture capital, proprietary trading firms, and family offices. Prior to joining Symbo, he was a director at LumenLab, MetLife’s innovation centre in Singapore. He was among those who oversaw the launch of Vitana, a blockchain-enabled health insurance solution within the MAS sandbox. He is also a founder and board member of the Singapore Fintech Association.
“The launch of Symbo’s online insurance broking business in Singapore is a major milestone for the company as we intend to participate in Singapore’s vibrant innovation ecosystem to expand across Southeast Asia,” Symbo’s board of directors said in a joint statement. “Our established team has strong experience bringing platform solutions to scale across the insurance and reinsurance value chains in Asia and we now look forward to applying their expertise to offer thought leading solutions in Singapore and the broader ASEAN region. We are thrilled to have Laurens and Subhajit join us in this journey and are confident that they will bring significant contributions to the business.”
