Singapore Insurers Chase AI Gains as Workers Fear Job Displacement

Insurance companies in Singapore are racing to automate underwriting, claims processing, and customer service with artificial intelligence, but the emerging bottleneck is not technology — it is trust. Speaking at the ABF/IA Summit on July 1, MSIG Singapore CFO Ker Ching Chock argued that insurers must treat trust as a balance-sheet asset alongside financial, human, and digital capital.

Ker outlined a six-pillar trust framework encompassing transparency, accountability, consistency, human oversight, customer interest, and employee confidence. The stakes are high: the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report projects 92 million jobs displaced by AI globally by 2030, but also 170 million new roles created — a net gain of 78 million. The critical question, Ker said, is how companies help people transition into the jobs AI creates rather than simply replacing them.

MSIG's own experience offers one template. An accounts payable employee whose manual invoice processing was automated was reskilled in accounting principles, reporting, and analysis, eventually transitioning into a finance analyst role. The message from the summit was consistent across speakers: AI replaces tasks, not purpose, and the companies that invest in reskilling alongside automation will be the ones that capture long-term value.

Why it matters for Singapore: Singapore's insurance sector is a bellwether for AI-driven workforce transformation in the city-state's services-heavy economy. With one of the highest AI deployment rates in Asia, the industry's experience in managing the trust-automation balance will inform how regulators, unions, and employers approach reskilling across banking, healthcare, and the public sector. The outcomes of this experiment will influence Singapore's broader strategy for AI and employment.