“The EAIC (East Asian Insurance Congress), I may say, was born in Tokyo, but it was just in symbol. It was in Manila that it attained substance and manhood.”
Those were the words of the late Mr Taizo Fukumuro, architect of the EAIC conference, to Mr V.R. Ayllon, President of Insular Life, Philippines, back in February 1981.
Mr Fukumuro was reminiscing on the important role the Philippines played in the formation of the EAIC, which first convened in Tokyo in 1962.
Mr Fukumuro was an actuary of the Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company when he planned to organise the first EAIC with his Filipino counterparts – Mr E.S. Sevilla and Mr M.O. Hizon – whom he had met in New York in 1957 while attending the International Conference of Actuaries. It was then that both parties realised how little they knew of each other’s insurance markets, and was set on the path of creating a forum where neighbouring insurance markets could get acquainted with each other.
And that led to the formation of the EAIC, where the first two meetings were held in Tokyo in 1962 and Manila two years later.
Harnessing opportunities created by disruptions
Since then, the EAIC has convened every alternate year amongst the various member cities, and finds itself yet again in Manila – where hundreds of Asia’s leading insurance executives and upcoming talent will converge on capital city of the Philippines on 6-9 May 2018.
With the theme “Managing Disruptions, Driving Change”, the organisers this year hope to help the industry grow by harnessing the opportunities created by disruptions, and using these to their advantage by enabling positive change in their organisations.
The EAIC aims to be different this year as the organisers strive to draw more life market players to the event as the grouping targets the whole insurance industry – both life and general – and not just the non-life players.