PasarPolis hired Allianz Indonesia's ex-CEO to lead its full-stack insurance push

PasarPolis is one of Indonesia's first full-stack insurtechs, selling embedded and micro-insurance to clients like Tokopedia, Gojek and Traveloka.

That a full-stack insurer — underwriting and distributing its own products — led by veteran incumbent leadership can close Indonesia's insurance gap

$59M+ raised as of July 2023, including from Indonesian unicorns Gojek, Tokopedia and Traveloka.

Launched in 2015, PasarPolis became one of Indonesia's first full-stack insurtechs; through a strategic partnership with Tap Insure — registered and supervised by Indonesia's Financial Authority (OJK) — it underwrites and distributes its own insurance products.

Van Zyl — seven years as director and CEO of Allianz Indonesia plus 15 years in senior AIG roles — had worked with PasarPolis for over five years, since Allianz began insuring its business partners. He joins as president overseeing full-stack strategy, aiming to make PasarPolis Indonesia's leading digital insurer against insurtech peers like Cermati, Lifepal and Cekaja.

Moving from distributing others' policies to underwriting its own is a risk decision; hiring Allianz Indonesia's ex-CEO imports the actuarial and regulatory credibility it requires.

Full-stack economics let PasarPolis own margin and product design instead of reselling incumbents' policies.

A specialist in selling first-ever policies to uninsured customers needs trust signals — a big-insurer résumé is one.

When a distribution platform graduates to carrying its own risk, it hires the risk discipline it lacks — from the incumbents it set out to disrupt.

As of 2023-07-11 Van Zyl is overseeing PasarPolis' strategy as a full-stack insurer across Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, with the stated goal of becoming the leading digital insurer in Indonesia.