Zurich Insurance has joined the 2026 Global FinTech Hackcelerator as a Corporate Champion, seeking artificial intelligence tools that help small and medium-sized enterprises in Asia Pacific identify gaps in their insurance coverage. The insurer's challenge, run with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Global Finance & Technology Network, targets a persistent problem: SMEs often remain underinsured against fast-changing risks like cyberattacks, supply-chain disruption and property damage.
AI to Improve Risk Awareness
Zurich is asking innovators to develop AI-driven solutions that give SMEs a real-time view of their risk exposure. The tools would flag missing coverage and recommend appropriate protection as a business grows. Many smaller companies find their risk profiles evolve faster than their policies, leaving them with exposures they may not recognise until a loss occurs.
Building Business Resilience
"SMEs are the backbone of economies across Asia Pacific, yet many remain exposed to increasingly complex and interconnected risks," said Matthew Reilly, Chief Operating Officer for Asia Pacific at Zurich Insurance. "AI has the potential to make risk easier to understand and insurance more accessible by enabling businesses to identify vulnerabilities earlier and make better-informed protection decisions."
AI for Insurance is increasingly being applied to risk assessment and underwriting, helping insurers analyse data faster and offer coverage that fits an SME's specific footprint. Zurich's challenge pushes that trend toward a practical, customer-facing tool that could shorten the distance between a business's real risks and the policy it buys.
Demo Day in November
Up to 20 finalists across three industry challenges will be selected for the programme. Each receives a SGD 20,000 stipend and guidance from a Corporate Champion and industry mentors. The finalists present their projects at Demo Day on 18 November, during the Singapore FinTech Festival, which runs from 18 to 20 November 2026. Corporate Champions can pursue pilot projects with selected teams.
Why this matters for insurance professionals
Zurich's hackathon signals a concrete move to use AI in closing the SME protection gap across Asia, a segment that represents billions in uninsured risk. Underwriters, product developers and risk advisors should track the solutions that surface-they may shape how the industry scales tailored coverage for smaller businesses without ballooning distribution costs.
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