Crop insurance would take off in Bangladesh if the government was to lend support, and awareness among farmers was raised, experts have said.
The Hong Kong insurance industry grew by 12.3% in the first quarter of 2019, with total gross premiums reaching HK$148.8bn ($19bn) over the corresponding period in 2018, according to statistics released by the Insurance Authority at the end of May. Growth was faster than the 8.6% posted for the first three months of 2018.
Long and manual business processes are among the top concerns of senior management in the insurance industry, according to CXOs surveyed by PwC India in the professional services firm’s Insurance Technology Adoption Survey 2019. CXOs admit that customer expectations are higher and their own processes need to be aligned judiciously.
The Financial Services Authority (OJK) says that only four shariah business units (UUS) in conventional insurance companies have been spun off into separate operating entities in the last five years. Two were from the general insurance sector and the other two from the life industry.
April reinsurance renewals, which were largely Asia Pacific centred with Japan being by far the largest market, were good from the reinsurers’ perspective, even though expectations going in were slightly stronger, says S&P Global Ratings.
The Securities and Exchange of Pakistan (SECP), which oversees the insurance industry among other financial services, has recommended that the federal government introduce mandatory health insurance for private sector employees. The move will enhance financial inclusion in Pakistan by making insurance accessible to workers who have currently no health insurance.
The Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF) will be established in Singapore later this year, deputy prime minister and minister for finance Heng Swee Keat has said.
The financial regulator has said that it will place the financial affiliates of family-run business conglomerates, or chaebol, under closer scrutiny next year, in a bid to better assess their risk management and emergency backstops.
Sri Lanka’s state-owned reinsurer, the National Insurance Trust Fund (NITF), has decided to extend the personal accident (PA) cover of the strike, riot, civil commotion and terrorism fund (SRCC&T Fund) to riot and terrorism risks for inbound tourists.
Executives of Taiwan’s Life Insurance Association have said that industry players have suggested that insurers be allowed to invest in sukuk, according to a report by Reuters.
The Thai government has gazetted amendments to the Non-life Insurance Act (1992) and Life Insurance Act (1992), focusing mainly on brokers and agents, in what are the first in a series of updates that the Office of Insurance Commission (OIC) intends to introduce to modernise Thailand’s insurance laws.
Global
According to Marsh’s quarterly Global Insurance Market Index, global commercial insurance pricing increased for the sixth consecutive quarter in the first quarter of 2019. This marks the sixth consecutive quarter of increases, with composite pricing increasing in all global regions for the second quarter in a row.
New York-based InsurTech Lemonade is going public at an approximate $2bn valuation. Lemonade last raised capital in April with a $300m round led by Softbank and may seek up to $500m in the initial public offering (IPO) to fuel its global expansion plans. Crowdfunding platform OurCrowd is also a shareholder in the InsurTech.
Risk
International scientists led by the University of Bristol, UK, have had a relook at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates on how much the world’s oceans are likely to rise during this century.
Digital technology’s clash with legacy hardware, new risks emerging from the spread of 5G mobile networks, increasingly limited fiscal and monetary policy flexibility, and genetic testing and its effects on the insurance industry, as well as the effects of climate change on public health are some of the risks identified in this year’s Swiss Re Institute SONAR report. The publication is based on the SONAR process to pick up early signals of what lies beyond the horizon.