A SINGAPORE-based metasearch engine for insurance and banking products, GoBear, is targeting to close 2016 with two million Filipino users.
The company is expanding its website’s services to the car insurance, car loans, home loans and health-insurance categories in the coming months.
GoBear allows users to compare different financial products including insurance, credit cards, and loans right from their mobile phones or computers, for free.
According to Rommel Torres, GoBear Philippines country director, the entry of GoBear in the Philippines will help Filipinos make smarter decisions when choosing financial products.
He said GoBear makes shopping for insurance and financial products a lot easier through its “unbiased, simple and transparent way” of offering customers the best deals in the market.
GoBear Philippines currently offers travel insurance, credit cards, and personal loans. In the coming months, the company will expand its services to include comparisons on car loans and insurance coverage for cars, life and health.
Power of reviews
“GoBear has placed the decision power in the consumer’s hands. It lets users publish reviews and those can drive changes in the way that banks and insurers do their business,” said Torres.
In the Philippines, Torres noted GoBear has already attracted 220,000 users. He is confident the figure would steadily increase on the back of the huge tech-savvy population in the Philippines.
Torres also believes that GoBear’s introduction to the country will help boost financial literacy.
“We’re getting there (in terms of achieving a good level of financial literacy). However, more campaigns should be done. Some of us don’t know that these financial products are available online. With GoBear, we are giving you the tools to be financially literate,” he said.
Established last year, GoBear already has a presence in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. This year, the company will try to penetrate Hong Kong and Vietnam. At present, it has about 2.5 million users.
Security Bank, BPI, Citibank, PNB, RCBC, Eastwest, Maybank and BDO are some of the partner-banks of GoBear.