(From left) Khairul, Prabakaran and Saravanan after the MOU signing for the new Insurance Rahmah product. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
INSURANCE technology company Gmat (pronounced “jimat”) Sdn Bhd has launched its “Insurance Rahmah” and two other insurance products.
“Insurance Rahmah is an affordable insurance product targeted particularly at B40 communities,” said Gmat director Khairul Anwar Ibrahim.
“It provides personal accident coverage of up to RM50,000 due to death or total permanent disability. It also covers dengue illness and death due to dengue.
“The premium is only RM50 per year or RM4+ per month. There is a takaful and a non-takaful option.
“The insurance can be purchased and approved within two minutes on Gmat’s website,” said Khairul, adding that Insurance Rahmah was meant to support and complement the government’s initiatives.
The products are available at www.gmat.com.my
The signing of memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Gmat and non-profit organisation Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas (DHRRA) Malaysia was represented by Khairul and DHRRA president S. Saravanan, respectively.
Batu MP P. Prabakaran witnessed the MOU signing at Gmat’s office in Wisma Lejadi, Kuala Lumpur.
Gmat will work with DHRRA Malaysia to create awareness and promote Insurance Rahmah to unserved and underserved communities, and aims to have one million Malaysians insured within the next 12 months.
“Based on an informal survey among urban poor communities, we found that only one out of 10 families have some form of insurance coverage,” said Saravanan, whose organisation carries out empowerment programmes for vulnerable communities and capacity-building initiatives for non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
“We observed that their reasons for delaying purchasing insurance coverage include lack of awareness and overconfidence, such as putting things off until it is too late.
“This also means many families are stuck when their sole breadwinner is left incapacitated or passes away due to an accident or other unforeseen circumstances.”
Saravanan said DHRRA Malaysia would promote Insurance Rahmah through engagement sessions with grassroots leaders, NGOs, MPs and assemblymen’s offices and through digital platforms.
Gmat chief executive officer M. Marimuthu said the company’s focus was to bring affordable insurance products to Malaysians and make insurance coverage more accessible, particularly for low-income groups.
“The problem in Malaysia is market entry and accessibility of products, which is why we are partnering with DHRRA Malaysia to widen our reach.”
He said the website would be available in Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin next month, in addition to English, for the scheme to be accessible to more people.
“We also have a live WhatsApp chat function and customer service personnel to help with any queries,” said Marimuthu.
On why its Insurance Rahmah also covered dengue, he said this was based on current needs due to an increase in cases.
Gmat’s other new products are hiker’s insurance priced from RM3 for a three-day trip and car insurance comparison service offering between 10% and 30% in savings for renewal of car insurance.
Digital road tax can also be purchased with zero service charge.
Gmat’s website serves as an insurance aggregator platform and offers a user-friendly experience to simplify the often-complex process of securing insurance coverage.
Khairul said a mobile app version of Gmat’s website would be available by year-end.
