Major operator Zurich Insurance Group has appointed Digbijoy Joseph Shukla (Digi) as head of digital for Asia Pacific (APAC), taking over from Roopa Malhotra, who has moved to chief growth and advice officer Zurich Japan.
Shukla will help shape Zurich’s pan-Asia-Pacific customer and digital agenda and lead Zurich Edge, the insurer’s regional digital and embedded insurance business.
His responsibilities also include accelerating regional digital growth, deepening ecosystem partnerships with platform and technology partners, and driving the integration of insurance into the customer journey.
Shukla has over two decades of experience in entrepreneurship, technology and digital ecosystems in Asia. Most recently, he served as CEO of two Carsome subsidiaries, iCar Asia and WapCar AutoFun, while leading M&A and ecosystem strategy, including incubating and scaling SaaS ventures within Carsome Group.
In the past, Shukla worked at Amazon Web Services (AWS) for nearly seven years, where he gradually led business development for the startup ecosystem in India and ASEAN and received multiple awards for his impact.
In her new role, Malhotra joins the Japan Executive Committee to lead growth, innovation and cross-sell initiatives for property and casualty and life insurance.
She helped build and scale Zurich Edge, which launched in Singapore in 2022 and now operates across the company’s Asia Pacific markets with an ecosystem of more than 100 partners, including Cathay Pacific, Trip.com, Traveloka and GXS Bank.
Zurich explains that the platform combines embedded insurance with cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence to integrate protection into partner platforms and daily customer journeys.
Matt Reilly, Chief Operating Officer, Asia Pacific, Zurich, commented: “Digi has a truly unique combination of entrepreneurial drive, deep ecosystem expertise and proven leadership at scale. This breadth of experience makes him the ideal leader to drive the next phase of our customer and digital strategy.”
“Over the past four years, Zurich Edge has grown into a cross-market, award-winning platform with more than 100 partners, and with Digbijoy at the helm, we will further accelerate this momentum.”
Shukla added: “I am delighted to be joining Zurich at a critical time in its digital ambitions across Asia Pacific. Having spent my career building and scaling digital businesses, ecosystems and communities, I see the huge potential that Zurich Edge has already achieved.
“Expanding to over 100 partners in the region while pioneering the use of artificial intelligence in embedded insurance is remarkable. I look forward to working with the team to take this to the next level and create even greater value for our customers and partners.”
