The year 2020 has rushed in with promises of being a better year. And why not? 20/20 is the perfect vision.
So I hope you are re-energised, tech-driven and highly-strategised to make this your year of perfect vision scoring on all fronts. Make it your decade of success.
The New Year is the best of times and equally the worst of times. So it is all up to you to summon the right grit to make this work for you with a good mix of optimism and real efforts to get ahead of the queue. Make an impact. Resolve to be the best you can be in 2020.
Though I must confess, the optimist in me is getting knackered by the unending spate of natural and man-made disasters - including political, terrorist and cyber - swirling around us. Yet the passion to ‘do good’ overcomes all odds. So this year we zero in on highlighting hope-inspiring success news, stories and dreams and lessons for the future.
As part of the positive spiel this month, we bring you the perfect vision for the life industry, living life to the fullest and maybe to 100 too, and being resilient every which way. Everyone is still eyeing Asia actively and competition will get tougher with digital and tech being the main differentiators.
And then we have the country profile on India, marking our annual India Rendezvous, now firmly entrenched in the insurance calendar. India’s hectic pace of growth draws the crowds.
With the January renewals almost done, the shift to April gathers momentum and usually depicts a truer reality. The science of risk returns and sustainability tends to favour the bigger boys. But as reinsurance still needs the personal touch with some degree of eye-balling, there is room yet for the small and nimble players too even when there are sometimes casualties that go into run-off.
The other big issue is that the Earth is in a climate crisis. The UN Climate Summit (COP25) failed with no deal to put the world on a safe-warming trajectory. This year we launch a page on the climate crisis to keep our readers alarmed to do their bit for the Earth consciously and as part of the business-psyche. Likewise, we shall have a Climate Crisis Summit this year seriously to come to terms with what insurers need to do in this big scary space.
As we look at the New Year, we want to do so much for the industry. But the most obvious thing is to get the industry to think of spreading trust and good will even when refusing legitimately to pay a claim. This moment of truth of the insurance contract is often left to the system to bumble with. Time to re-strategise and set C-suite guidelines on how a claim is denied. Needless to say celebrating claims paid is an on-going ‘must’.
With too much happening everywhere,
I urge all of you to stay updated with our online offering AIR+ which brings you all the interviews and important updates that impact the industry between the print editions each month. It is really our attempt to get you to square your knowledge in a world where fake news seems more real than actual news.
A very happy New Year to all. Here’s wishing you that you can see clearly forever with this brand new perfect vision.
Sivam Subramaniam
Editor-in-chief
Asia Insurance Review