Healthcare poses the largest non-life protection gap in ASEAN, followed by natural disasters and residential property, according to findings published in the 2018 ASEAN Insurance Pulse, a survey released by the Zurich-based research firm Dr Schanz, Alms & Company and Malaysian Reinsurance.
Aviation collision/crash incidents rank as the top cause of loss in Australia over a five-year period, accounting for almost a third of the total value of all claims in the country, according to Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) in its latest Global Claims Review.
Foreign insurers’ interest in China’s insurance market is currently at the highest levels in many years, says international law firm Clyde & Co in a commentary. The legal firm expects a number of significant and creative foreign insurer-invested transactions to emerge through 2019.
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance has withdrawn from the Hong Kong Employees’ Compensation (EC) Terrorism Pool from 1 December, and is the first insurer in Hong Kong to provide EC terrorism coverage to customers directly.
In a breakthrough move, foreign reinsurers’ branches (FRBs) in India will now be able to bid for reinsurance contracts along with Indian reinsurers. At present, GIC Re is the only active Indian reinsurer.
The biggest risks for Japanese insurers will continue to stem from financial markets in 2019, says Fitch Ratings in a new report.
There is a clear trend of underinsurance in Malaysia because the vast majority of policyholders do not increase the value of sum insured annually, despite rising inflation and appreciation of assets over time, notes AIG Malaysia Insurance.
Insurers are increasingly using granular data on risk exposures and historical claims to price more accurately for differences in risk. This allows them to charge higher premiums for higher risks, says the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in its latest six-monthly Financial Stability Report released in November 2018.
The Philippine insurance industry will experience positive growth in the coming years, on the back of an increase in financial literacy efforts by the sector, says Sun Life Financial-Philippines (Sun Life), the country’s biggest life insurer.
Technology-based insurance brokers are expected to swarm over Singapore this year as they will seek regulatory approval to operate in the market, according to a commentary by international law firm, Clyde & Co.
Multinational conglomerate, Samsung Group, faces a difficult decision on its life insurance arm as South Korea’s government presses family-owned conglomerates to spin off financial units, part of President Moon Jae-in’s effort to weaken their power by unravelling their complex and opaque cross-holding structures.
Premium income generated from ‘spillover’ insurance in 2018 is expected to surpass that of 2017, the Financial Supervisory Commission has said.
The Office of Insurance Commission (OIC) has proposed a blueprint to develop the Thai insurance industry further, after carrying out a study on the liberalisation of insurance products. Explaining the regulator’s plans, OIC secretary general Suttiphol Taveechai said that the OIC recognised the importance of creating an environment conducive to competition.
Several Korean insurance companies have expanded their operations to the Vietnamese insurance market through mergers and acquisitions, with the latest by KB Insurance, which last month announced it planned to buy a 17% stake in Bao Minh Insurance, the third largest non-life insurer in Vietnam.
Global
According to California’s state insurance commissioner, Dave Jones, the total amount of claims from last month’s wildfires are sitting at $9bn, with the figure likely to rise.
The Global Federation of Insurance Associations (GFIA) has warned that the increased supervisory mandates, included in an International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) draft application paper on proactive supervision of corporate governance, would be costly to implement and overly intrusive.
Lemonade, a US home and renters’ insurance start-up, is making Europe its first global expansion target.
Ping An Insurance Group’s Global Voyager Investment Fund is leading the latest funding round worth EUR41.5m ($47m) for Finleap, a Berlin-based FinTech company. Finleap provides technology to build digital solutions in Europe’s banking, insurance and asset management industries. The fund’s investment in Finleap represents its first foray into the continental European market, after finalising some deals in the UK.
Risk
The Hong Kong Federation of Insurers (HKFI) has launched the Insurance Fraud Prevention Claims Database (IFPCD). Featuring state-of-the-art AI technology provided by Shift Technology, a French company, the IFPCD will be able to help detect different types of insurance fraud, particularly those involving multiple claims and syndicates.
The UN Environment’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) has announced a partnership with 16 of the world’s largest insurers to develop a new generation of risk-assessment tools which aim to enable the insurance industry to understand the impacts of climate change on their business better.
The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) has launched a consultation to seek public feedback on a proposed holistic framework for the assessment and mitigation of systemic risk in the insurance sector, a significant component of the post-financial crisis reform agenda.