When you think of the insurance industry, the word ‘dynamic’ isn’t exactly the first thing that springs to mind. It’s an industry built on caution, risk assessment, and centuries of tradition. Yet, something significant is brewing, and it’s not another complex policy document. The sector is quietly being rewired by artificial intelligence, and the latest, most telling move comes from Manulife, which has just placed a major bet on Singapore.
They’ve launched what they’re calling an Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence (AI CoE). This isn’t just a fancy name for an IT department with a bigger budget. What we are seeing is the birth of the insurance AI hub – a centralised brain designed to infuse intelligence into every corner of the business. It’s a strategic play that could redefine what an insurance company looks like in the next decade. But what does that actually mean?
The Central Nervous System of a Modern Insurer
Think of a traditional insurance company as a collection of separate, skilled departments. Underwriters are in one room, claims processors in another, and customer service in a third. They communicate, of course, but it’s often through a slow, manual exchange of files and information.
An insurance AI hub acts like a central nervous system connecting all these limbs. It ingests vast amounts of data, processes it with intelligent algorithms, and sends signals back out to make each part of the organisation faster, smarter, and more cohesive. It’s less about replacing people and more about giving them superpowers. This is the big idea behind Manulife planting its flag in Singapore.
Manulife’s Singapore Gambit
So, why Singapore? Why is this Canadian insurance giant setting up its global AI skunkworks on this small island nation? According to Manulife Asia’s Chief AI Officer, Mark Czajkowski, the decision was deliberate. Singapore offers a potent cocktail of world-class digital infrastructure, a clear and supportive regulatory framework, and a dense concentration of research talent. It’s the perfect incubator for this kind of ambition.
The new AI CoE has a clear mission, focusing on three core areas:
– Automated underwriting: To speed up and refine risk analysis.
– Customer engagement AI: To make interactions more personal and efficient.
– Streamlining insurance operations: To cut through the back-office bureaucracy.
Crucially, Manulife is hammering home the message of “human oversight.” This isn’t about letting the machines run wild. It’s about building tools that augment human experts, not replace them. A point echoed by Manulife Singapore’s CEO, Benoit Meslet, who noted that AI is an opportunity to “deliver better, faster, and more personalised service to customers.”
Building an Ecosystem, Not Just an Office
This isn’t a solo venture. Manulife is smartly weaving itself into the local fabric. The company is forging partnerships with the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). This is a classic ecosystem play: you don’t just hire talent, you help create it. By collaborating on research and training, Manulife ensures a steady stream of skilled minds and fresh ideas.
They plan to significantly expand their Singapore-based AI workforce over the next three years. This speaks volumes about the level of commitment. It also aligns with a wider trend of Singapore AI adoption. A recent survey found that a staggering 73.8% of Singaporean workers are already using AI tools on the job, with 85% of them reporting a jump in productivity. The ground is clearly fertile for what Manulife is planting.
How AI Unlocks the Underwriting Black Box
Let’s talk about automated underwriting. For a customer, underwriting is often a mysterious, time-consuming black box. You submit your details and wait, sometimes for weeks, for a decision. AI promises to smash that box open. By using algorithms to analyse risk factors from various data sources in real-time, insurers can make faster, more consistent decisions.
This isn’t just theoretical. Manulife has already seen the benefits, with over three-quarters of its global workforce using generative AI tools, as reported by Insurance Business Asia. The efficiency gains are real. When an application can be approved in minutes instead of days, it doesn’t just improve insurance operations; it dramatically enhances the customer experience. Suddenly, getting life insurance feels less like a trip to the dentist and more like a modern digital service.
AI That Actually Wants to Talk to You
Speaking of customers, customer engagement AI is another key battleground. We’ve all suffered through infuriatingly stupid chatbots that can only respond with “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” The goal now is to create AI that is genuinely helpful.
Manulife’s ChatMFC platform is an early example. The aim is to provide instant, accurate answers to queries and guide customers to the right information without them having to navigate a labyrinthine website or wait on hold for 45 minutes. This is about delivering speed and personalisation at scale—something humans are great at one-on-one but struggle to provide to millions of customers simultaneously.
The Future: From Singapore to the World
So, what is the grand strategy here? Mark Czajkowski has made it clear that a key goal of the insurance AI hub is to develop and test solutions that can be scaled globally. Singapore is the laboratory. The successful experiments—the refined underwriting models, the effective customer service bots, the streamlined operational workflows—will be exported to Manulife’s other markets.
This model, where a company centralises its innovation in a hyper-connected, tech-forward location, is likely to become the standard for multinational corporations. It allows for rapid iteration and learning in a controlled environment before a global rollout. The insights generated in Singapore could soon be shaping insurance practices from Toronto to Tokyo.
The establishment of this AI CoE isn’t just another corporate announcement. It’s a clear signal about the future of a very traditional industry. It underscores a shift from a reactive, paper-based model to a proactive, data-driven one. The question is no longer if AI will transform insurance, but how fast.
With this move, Manulife isn’t just keeping up; it’s trying to write the rulebook for the next generation of insurance. The challenge for its competitors is clear: what’s your AI strategy? In this new landscape, standing still is the riskiest move of all.
