Bowtie, Hong Kong’s first virtual insurer, opens coffee shop in Wan Chai where clients can discuss policies, raise concerns
- Bowtie Life Insurance’s new coffee shop provides a physical venue for customers to talk to staff
- It follows the likes of ING Direct, which has established coffee shops in the US, Canada, Britain and Europe for customers to handle banking
Bowtie Life Insurance opened the doors to Bow Coffee in Wan Chai on Thursday. The 1,500 square-foot space is open to the public and sits beneath an office space housing the company’s 70 staff on Queen’s Road East.
Bowtie’s customers can enjoy a discount while they raise questions to insurance staff about their policies. The shop, however, cannot sell policies directly because of licence restrictions.
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It is not the first digital financial company on the planet to open physical locations such as coffee shops to enable customers to talk face-to-face with qualified staff.
“It is like the Apple Genius Bar at the Apple Stores. When there is a physical shop, people know there is an ultimate location where things can be fixed,” said Michael Chan Kwan-yu, co-founder and co-CEO of Bowtie in an interview on Thursday.
“Likewise, Bow Coffee can be a venue for our insurance customers to relax and to raise any questions about their policies.”
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