The Doctoral Program in Economic (PDIE) Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) held Webinar Digitalizing Finance with Technology: Future Trends and Research, Monday (14/12/2020). The webinar that invited Prof. Meryem Duygun, Aviva Chair Risk in Insurance, Nottingham University Business School, UK, was held in collaboration with The Center for Science and Technology Pusat of Higher Education (PUI PT) Fintech and Banking.

The event was opened by the Director of PDIE FEB UNS, Prof. Rahmawati, who delivered her gratitude to all parties who have contributed to managing the webinar and Prof. Meryem for the lecture. Prof. Rahma stated that technology development had encouraged innovations in finance that changes the financial industry landscape. These innovations are Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Lending, Digital payment, Crypto-currency, InsurTech, Robo Advisor, and many other innovations. Prof. Meryem Duygun, as the President of International Finance and Banking Society (IFABS) and editor of many reputable international journals, supports PDIE goals to prepare its students to select the dissertation topic.

“We hope that this forum will be beneficial for all participants and thank you for participating in this lecture,” Prof. Rahmawati stated.

Prof. Meryem opened her material with examples of current conditions in which insurance companies employ Artificial Intelligence (AI) to collect their customers’ personal data to provide good services. It is possible because customers have agreed that their insurance company can access the data stored in their electronic devices as a term to get lower insurance premium. Additionally, 75% of the executive in the insurance field believe that artificial intelligence will revolutionize the insurance industry.

“Technology innovation has become the main driver of changes in the financial sector. This innovation is often known as FinTech,” Prof. Meryem explained.

She added that the use of innovation in the insurance industry would improve efficiency and functionality. This innovation can come in various forms such as software, application, startup, product, and service. Therefore, InsurTech has highly specialized policies and uses databases derived from equipment connected to the internet, enabling them to determine dynamic insurance premiums.

“The main area in the insurance field’s innovation is the intermediation and distribution model, sharing economy and insurance, robo-advisor and artificial intelligence (AI), and data aggregation and analytics. Some examples of Insurance Technology (InsurTech) companies are BIMA, Friendsurance, and InsPeer,” she added.

Insurance level in Indonesia, according to Prof. Meryem, is low because of various factors such as low insurance literacy and distrust toward the financial institution. However, there are still opportunities for InsurTech to grow in Indonesia, considering Indonesia’s population size, growing middle class, and the development of the internet economy. She concluded the material with studies on P2P and InsurTech. The webinar was closed with a question and answer session between Prof. Meryem and more than 70 webinar participants. (Aulia/Humas)