How Banks, Insurers, And Wearables Are Redefining Well-Being

Consumers are increasingly demanding more tailored, personalized support for their health and well-being. As chronic noncommunicable diseases rise and wearable technology and genomics advance, organizations are being pushed to move beyond traditional roles and build more integrated, data-driven healthcare ecosystems. 

In this dynamic conversation, Oliver Wyman Partner Ajit Rochlani moderates a panel of leaders from Standard Chartered, Bupa Global, and WHOOP (an advanced fitness and health wearable) to discuss how a global bank, a health insurance provider, and a wearable technology company are combining financial protection, wellness expertise, and continuous data to deliver more proactive, personalized health and well-being solutions for customers around the world. 

The message emerging is: the boundaries between finance, insurance, and health are dissolving, and those who adapt fastest will shape the next era of well‑being. 

INFocus Series 

INFocus provides exclusive insights and trends from experts and leaders across the Asia Pacific region, exploring the forces, opportunities, and challenges shaping its future. 

Go to series

Ajit Rochlani

Hello, and welcome to this very special episode of Reinventing Insurance. We will be unpacking the topic of health and well-being today. With me today is a very special panel of guests. Gautam leads Bancassurance at Standard Chartered Bank, Todd leads enterprise partnerships at WHOOP, and Anthony leads Bupa Global.

The entire theme of health and well-being has expanded so much in recent times. There are three key driving factors that are having a significant impact in terms of how we are rethinking our health and well-being. One is that we, as consumers, have become a lot more aware, a lot more conscious than we used to be a few years back. Second, our expectations from organizations, like banks, insurance companies, and healthcare providers, have changed so significantly that it's almost like we are expecting everything from everyone. The third driver is that there is significant advancement in terms of what technology can do, what data can do. Therefore, the art of the possible has been reshaped quite significantly.

With that, maybe Gautam, I can get you first to talk about how a bank like Standard Chartered thinks about health and well-being.

Gautam Duggal

Very interestingly, Ajit, as you rightly mentioned, the whole health, well-being, and wellness space is evolving so fast. Consumers want much more. But at the same time, the paradox is, where do they go? That is where we, as a bank, see it clear; I would say an aspiration for us is to be one of the partners for our customers, for our clients, where they don’t come to us just from a financial need perspective, but they also come to us where we can be their health advisers or be in the space where we can nudge them towards their wellness.

It’s not an easy space for a financial institution to be in, right? But the way the banking industry is evolving, the banking relationship managers should be able to be holistic. That is where we call the 360-degree wellness healthcare, and the well-being comes into place.

Ajit

Thank you, Gautam. Anthony, I would love to hear your perspective on how you see this overall theme of health and well-being evolving, and in your experience, where do you think we are headed?

Anthony Cabrelli

Let me start off with the bad news. The bad news for me is that I continue to see the cost of healthcare rise. The real issue for me is probably around non-communicable diseases. In the United States, they account for 90% of healthcare costs. In other markets, it’s typically about 75%, and it’s probably the biggest cause of deaths in the world today.

I think the role of the healthcare specialist has to be really proactive; proactive in understanding the dynamics of the individual person, understanding what their own well-being is, and then working with that individual in terms of their lifestyle, their eating, their sleep, and, naturally, medical providers. The ability to capture data and the experience in clinical management, which Bupa does, because we own our own providers and have doctors as well, is key. Working with that data, but also with devices such as WHOOP, is going to be absolutely key.

Because if you can change the lifestyle of the individual through the provision of care, the management of care, the communication, and digital healthcare solutions, then you really stand a good chance.

Ajit

Thank you, Anthony. Todd, you heard all of us talking about data. WHOOP is pushing the boundaries in terms of how much data you can track and use. I would love to get your take on how you are seeing the evolution of health and well-being, and how WHOOP is playing a role.

Todd Stiefler

It’s a rapidly evolving technology landscape. We think there’s incredible potential for an “always on” partner or coach. That’s really part of this ecosystem. It doesn’t replace your doctor, it doesn’t replace your insurance company, but it really becomes a partner in driving the behavior change that’s going to reduce the burden of chronic non-communicable diseases and help people lead better, healthier, happier lives.

I think there are really at least two aspects of this health operating system that we think about in the future. One is that coaching nudging piece, where day in and day out, you’re getting the right insights based on your unique physiology and your own data to make the marginal decisions that are going to compound over time into better health, better lifestyle, and longer health span.

I think the other piece is really as a partner to the doctor, in providing a full data picture of the individual, to the extent that the individual is comfortable providing that. If you think about how we interact with maybe our general practitioners or even specialists today, we come into the office, we do a series of tests, and if you’re in good health, you do that once a year. Some of those tests may pick up chronic or ongoing issues, but some of them may reflect what’s happened in the last five days, not in the last 365.

The fact that WHOOP is a product that people want to wear 24/7, 365, really gives you a completely transformational lens into health and behavior over the course of someone’s life. You’re not relying on a point-in-time test. You’re not relying on their memory or what they want to answer in a form. You’re actually getting that ground truth.

Ajit 

From the consumer's point of view, there are different expectations in terms of how we interact with the bank, interact with an insurance company, or how we use devices like WHOOP as an enabler for our overall well-being. I would love to get your take on how you are thinking in your respective organizations in terms of what this means for the consumer and how we try to bridge the gap in terms of what exists today and what is the expectation from our consumer.

Gautam

Clients expect to get everything in one place. Are they spoiled for choice? Yes. But being spoiled for choice also means who’s going to make the decision, or who is going to help make a decision, or at least narrow down their choices to make a decision. Hence, that’s where we, as a financial institution, as advisers, being here for our clients is very critical.

We want to look into partnering with the top health insurance companies and wearable devices like WHOOP and see how we can use that data very effectively.

Anthony

For us as an organization, it’s about recognizing each and every single person as an individual and building a personal health plan. But to do that, you have to probably go deeper.

One of the pilots that we’ve initiated is now a proposition across a number of our markets – offering a genomic sequence proposition to our customers. This really told us some incredible information. We did a test with 22,000 customers, and we found that 99% of them are actually immune to various drugs.

In my situation, I’ve been taking metformin for a number of years. It really wasn’t having any impact on the move to insulin. I found that the test told me I was immune to metformin. It’s not just about the provision of the information; I think it goes beyond that. It’s about once you’ve got that information, communicating it to the individual customer in a manner that they can understand, and when something is curable or treatable, working with them proactively in developing programs to support them. There are so many of these conditions that you can reverse with a change in your lifestyle. To me, that is really personalized healthcare.

Ajit

It’s very interesting how genomics is helping the evolution of consumer expectations from healthcare providers and other partners as well.

Todd, you are a very consumer-centric company, and you have, in a way, designed something that consumers need in their daily lives. I would love to get your perspective on how you are seeing the change in customer expectations.

Todd

First of all, there’s a much broader audience for wearables now and for high-performance wearable technology than there probably was in the past when we started the company. We’re addressing the part of the market now that is proactive, that has ownership over their own health, that’s leaning forward into things like taking a blood test more than once a year and wearing a wearable 24/7.

In reality, I think to really make an impact outside of the highly motivated group of high performers, executives, and athletes, and folks that tend to be the core customer base for most wearables companies, or for us, we really have to have partners that are reaching a broader audience in the enterprise space.

I think Gautam said it: customers are spoiled for choice, but the flip side of that is that most people are so busy. They can only maintain so many relationships and evaluate so many products. I think when an insurance company, which is a necessary part of the health picture for everyone and in most countries, steps up and says we’re going to help you focus on the right decisions for you based on what we already know about you and the relationship we already have, that’s really powerful.

Ajit

That’s nicely said, Todd. All of us are looking for ways in which we can perform at our best. Gautam, we spoke a lot about the different needs of consumers and how the expectations have been evolving. This also means that for banks, this is an opportunity to create a proposition that is at the center of what the clients are looking for. It goes beyond their financial needs, but it touches upon their overall well-being. I would love to hear from you about how you are thinking about this.

Gautam 

Ajit, that’s an opportunity which, as an organization, we are quite keen to embark upon for our client, importantly. Now, the bigger opportunity question for us was, how do we get WHOOP and Bupa together? What does that mean to our client? Because they don’t want it to be a bank, a wearable device, and an insurance company. For a client, they would want all three of us to be together.

That’s why we believe that with the data from WHOOP, an insurance company like Bupa, which is really in a very advanced stage, can start interpreting that data and use that information to better proposition the product from a client perspective? Whether it is a pricing offering or even giving them other tools and avenues to help the client have a better, meaningful, purposeful life.

That’s where the essence of this partnership of Bupa, WHOOP, and Standard Chartered becomes extremely pivotal in how we see the health and wellness space evolving in the next couple of years.

Ajit

Thank you for sharing, and it’s very interesting how the three of you are coming together to create a powerful proposition for the clients.

Todd, how do you see WHOOP playing a role in some of the enterprise partnerships that you have been working on, and where do you think this trend is headed?

Todd

I think Standard Chartered is clearly early in establishing a real leadership position and thinking about how to integrate wearables into an offering.

We’re seeing interest from so many different sectors. Talking to airlines, for example, about fatigue management for their crew, talking to healthcare providers about how to use this data in a way that can improve the quality of care and the patient experience. For folks who work in industrial-type settings where the health and safety of workers is a paramount concern, data can be really powerful. What really gets us interested is where our product and our data can become fundamental to the value proposition of the business.

That’s what I love about this partnership; it’s not like “hey, maybe we gave everybody a toaster last year when they opened a credit card account. This year, we’ll give them a wearable device.” It’s really about how we can use this to attract and retain clients, yes, but also improve the client experience, transform lives, and really change the way that we do business.

Anthony

In terms of the customers for Bupa Global, they tend to be ultra-high-net-worth individuals, high-net-worth professional executives, athletes, and students who have been looked after by their parents, and retirees.

The commonality is that they’re looking for comprehensive coverage, no matter where they are around the world. The second element is the aspect of vulnerability because typically they’re in a country or residing there, whether permanent or temporarily, where they’re not familiar with the healthcare infrastructure, where the good hospitals are, and the good doctors. The third area is really around vulnerability and risk associated with the cost of healthcare.

There are certain conditions today, such as CAR-T, which is stem cell therapy for someone who has cancer. It’s really the treatment of last resort. But if you could have that treatment, and it’s very personalized in the United States, that’s going to cost you 1.5 million to 2 million dollars. To give them that reassurance is absolutely key. We have a relationship with those customers, not once a year or once every two years; we have a relationship and touch points five to six times a year. So service accessibility support is absolutely key.

Ajit

Thank you, Anthony. Thank you all for sharing very diverse and interesting perspectives on health and well-being. Clearly, this is a space that continues to evolve a lot, and the future should be exciting.

This transcript has been edited for clarity. 

Consumers are increasingly demanding more tailored, personalized support for their health and well-being. As chronic noncommunicable diseases rise and wearable technology and genomics advance, organizations are being pushed to move beyond traditional roles and build more integrated, data-driven healthcare ecosystems. 

In this dynamic conversation, Oliver Wyman Partner Ajit Rochlani moderates a panel of leaders from Standard Chartered, Bupa Global, and WHOOP (an advanced fitness and health wearable) to discuss how a global bank, a health insurance provider, and a wearable technology company are combining financial protection, wellness expertise, and continuous data to deliver more proactive, personalized health and well-being solutions for customers around the world. 

The message emerging is: the boundaries between finance, insurance, and health are dissolving, and those who adapt fastest will shape the next era of well‑being. 

INFocus Series 

INFocus provides exclusive insights and trends from experts and leaders across the Asia Pacific region, exploring the forces, opportunities, and challenges shaping its future. 

Go to series

Ajit Rochlani

Hello, and welcome to this very special episode of Reinventing Insurance. We will be unpacking the topic of health and well-being today. With me today is a very special panel of guests. Gautam leads Bancassurance at Standard Chartered Bank, Todd leads enterprise partnerships at WHOOP, and Anthony leads Bupa Global.

The entire theme of health and well-being has expanded so much in recent times. There are three key driving factors that are having a significant impact in terms of how we are rethinking our health and well-being. One is that we, as consumers, have become a lot more aware, a lot more conscious than we used to be a few years back. Second, our expectations from organizations, like banks, insurance companies, and healthcare providers, have changed so significantly that it's almost like we are expecting everything from everyone. The third driver is that there is significant advancement in terms of what technology can do, what data can do. Therefore, the art of the possible has been reshaped quite significantly.

With that, maybe Gautam, I can get you first to talk about how a bank like Standard Chartered thinks about health and well-being.

Gautam Duggal

Very interestingly, Ajit, as you rightly mentioned, the whole health, well-being, and wellness space is evolving so fast. Consumers want much more. But at the same time, the paradox is, where do they go? That is where we, as a bank, see it clear; I would say an aspiration for us is to be one of the partners for our customers, for our clients, where they don’t come to us just from a financial need perspective, but they also come to us where we can be their health advisers or be in the space where we can nudge them towards their wellness.

It’s not an easy space for a financial institution to be in, right? But the way the banking industry is evolving, the banking relationship managers should be able to be holistic. That is where we call the 360-degree wellness healthcare, and the well-being comes into place.

Ajit

Thank you, Gautam. Anthony, I would love to hear your perspective on how you see this overall theme of health and well-being evolving, and in your experience, where do you think we are headed?

Anthony Cabrelli

Let me start off with the bad news. The bad news for me is that I continue to see the cost of healthcare rise. The real issue for me is probably around non-communicable diseases. In the United States, they account for 90% of healthcare costs. In other markets, it’s typically about 75%, and it’s probably the biggest cause of deaths in the world today.

I think the role of the healthcare specialist has to be really proactive; proactive in understanding the dynamics of the individual person, understanding what their own well-being is, and then working with that individual in terms of their lifestyle, their eating, their sleep, and, naturally, medical providers. The ability to capture data and the experience in clinical management, which Bupa does, because we own our own providers and have doctors as well, is key. Working with that data, but also with devices such as WHOOP, is going to be absolutely key.

Because if you can change the lifestyle of the individual through the provision of care, the management of care, the communication, and digital healthcare solutions, then you really stand a good chance.

Ajit

Thank you, Anthony. Todd, you heard all of us talking about data. WHOOP is pushing the boundaries in terms of how much data you can track and use. I would love to get your take on how you are seeing the evolution of health and well-being, and how WHOOP is playing a role.

Todd Stiefler

It’s a rapidly evolving technology landscape. We think there’s incredible potential for an “always on” partner or coach. That’s really part of this ecosystem. It doesn’t replace your doctor, it doesn’t replace your insurance company, but it really becomes a partner in driving the behavior change that’s going to reduce the burden of chronic non-communicable diseases and help people lead better, healthier, happier lives.

I think there are really at least two aspects of this health operating system that we think about in the future. One is that coaching nudging piece, where day in and day out, you’re getting the right insights based on your unique physiology and your own data to make the marginal decisions that are going to compound over time into better health, better lifestyle, and longer health span.

I think the other piece is really as a partner to the doctor, in providing a full data picture of the individual, to the extent that the individual is comfortable providing that. If you think about how we interact with maybe our general practitioners or even specialists today, we come into the office, we do a series of tests, and if you’re in good health, you do that once a year. Some of those tests may pick up chronic or ongoing issues, but some of them may reflect what’s happened in the last five days, not in the last 365.

The fact that WHOOP is a product that people want to wear 24/7, 365, really gives you a completely transformational lens into health and behavior over the course of someone’s life. You’re not relying on a point-in-time test. You’re not relying on their memory or what they want to answer in a form. You’re actually getting that ground truth.

Ajit 

From the consumer's point of view, there are different expectations in terms of how we interact with the bank, interact with an insurance company, or how we use devices like WHOOP as an enabler for our overall well-being. I would love to get your take on how you are thinking in your respective organizations in terms of what this means for the consumer and how we try to bridge the gap in terms of what exists today and what is the expectation from our consumer.

Gautam

Clients expect to get everything in one place. Are they spoiled for choice? Yes. But being spoiled for choice also means who’s going to make the decision, or who is going to help make a decision, or at least narrow down their choices to make a decision. Hence, that’s where we, as a financial institution, as advisers, being here for our clients is very critical.

We want to look into partnering with the top health insurance companies and wearable devices like WHOOP and see how we can use that data very effectively.

Anthony

For us as an organization, it’s about recognizing each and every single person as an individual and building a personal health plan. But to do that, you have to probably go deeper.

One of the pilots that we’ve initiated is now a proposition across a number of our markets – offering a genomic sequence proposition to our customers. This really told us some incredible information. We did a test with 22,000 customers, and we found that 99% of them are actually immune to various drugs.

In my situation, I’ve been taking metformin for a number of years. It really wasn’t having any impact on the move to insulin. I found that the test told me I was immune to metformin. It’s not just about the provision of the information; I think it goes beyond that. It’s about once you’ve got that information, communicating it to the individual customer in a manner that they can understand, and when something is curable or treatable, working with them proactively in developing programs to support them. There are so many of these conditions that you can reverse with a change in your lifestyle. To me, that is really personalized healthcare.

Ajit

It’s very interesting how genomics is helping the evolution of consumer expectations from healthcare providers and other partners as well.

Todd, you are a very consumer-centric company, and you have, in a way, designed something that consumers need in their daily lives. I would love to get your perspective on how you are seeing the change in customer expectations.

Todd

First of all, there’s a much broader audience for wearables now and for high-performance wearable technology than there probably was in the past when we started the company. We’re addressing the part of the market now that is proactive, that has ownership over their own health, that’s leaning forward into things like taking a blood test more than once a year and wearing a wearable 24/7.

In reality, I think to really make an impact outside of the highly motivated group of high performers, executives, and athletes, and folks that tend to be the core customer base for most wearables companies, or for us, we really have to have partners that are reaching a broader audience in the enterprise space.

I think Gautam said it: customers are spoiled for choice, but the flip side of that is that most people are so busy. They can only maintain so many relationships and evaluate so many products. I think when an insurance company, which is a necessary part of the health picture for everyone and in most countries, steps up and says we’re going to help you focus on the right decisions for you based on what we already know about you and the relationship we already have, that’s really powerful.

Ajit

That’s nicely said, Todd. All of us are looking for ways in which we can perform at our best. Gautam, we spoke a lot about the different needs of consumers and how the expectations have been evolving. This also means that for banks, this is an opportunity to create a proposition that is at the center of what the clients are looking for. It goes beyond their financial needs, but it touches upon their overall well-being. I would love to hear from you about how you are thinking about this.

Gautam 

Ajit, that’s an opportunity which, as an organization, we are quite keen to embark upon for our client, importantly. Now, the bigger opportunity question for us was, how do we get WHOOP and Bupa together? What does that mean to our client? Because they don’t want it to be a bank, a wearable device, and an insurance company. For a client, they would want all three of us to be together.

That’s why we believe that with the data from WHOOP, an insurance company like Bupa, which is really in a very advanced stage, can start interpreting that data and use that information to better proposition the product from a client perspective? Whether it is a pricing offering or even giving them other tools and avenues to help the client have a better, meaningful, purposeful life.

That’s where the essence of this partnership of Bupa, WHOOP, and Standard Chartered becomes extremely pivotal in how we see the health and wellness space evolving in the next couple of years.

Ajit

Thank you for sharing, and it’s very interesting how the three of you are coming together to create a powerful proposition for the clients.

Todd, how do you see WHOOP playing a role in some of the enterprise partnerships that you have been working on, and where do you think this trend is headed?

Todd

I think Standard Chartered is clearly early in establishing a real leadership position and thinking about how to integrate wearables into an offering.

We’re seeing interest from so many different sectors. Talking to airlines, for example, about fatigue management for their crew, talking to healthcare providers about how to use this data in a way that can improve the quality of care and the patient experience. For folks who work in industrial-type settings where the health and safety of workers is a paramount concern, data can be really powerful. What really gets us interested is where our product and our data can become fundamental to the value proposition of the business.

That’s what I love about this partnership; it’s not like “hey, maybe we gave everybody a toaster last year when they opened a credit card account. This year, we’ll give them a wearable device.” It’s really about how we can use this to attract and retain clients, yes, but also improve the client experience, transform lives, and really change the way that we do business.

Anthony

In terms of the customers for Bupa Global, they tend to be ultra-high-net-worth individuals, high-net-worth professional executives, athletes, and students who have been looked after by their parents, and retirees.

The commonality is that they’re looking for comprehensive coverage, no matter where they are around the world. The second element is the aspect of vulnerability because typically they’re in a country or residing there, whether permanent or temporarily, where they’re not familiar with the healthcare infrastructure, where the good hospitals are, and the good doctors. The third area is really around vulnerability and risk associated with the cost of healthcare.

There are certain conditions today, such as CAR-T, which is stem cell therapy for someone who has cancer. It’s really the treatment of last resort. But if you could have that treatment, and it’s very personalized in the United States, that’s going to cost you 1.5 million to 2 million dollars. To give them that reassurance is absolutely key. We have a relationship with those customers, not once a year or once every two years; we have a relationship and touch points five to six times a year. So service accessibility support is absolutely key.

Ajit

Thank you, Anthony. Thank you all for sharing very diverse and interesting perspectives on health and well-being. Clearly, this is a space that continues to evolve a lot, and the future should be exciting.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.