Technical Feature: Business Interruption Risks - Find Your Upside
Think Tank - The Geneva Association: A Planet of Opportunities (and Risks)
News - RMS Releases Several New Catastrophe Risk Models for Asia
Global News - Benfield Signs Risk Modelling and Consulting Agreement with Lloyd's
Operational risk is one of the least understood and least well-managed of recognised risks, yet its importance should not be underestimated, says Symantec Asia Pacific. This article presents a framework for managing IT risk, one of the fundamental components of operational risk.
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Prevent, reduce and re-use waste – that is the basic rule of sustainable resource use, says The Geneva Association in this article, which also talks global climate change and how individuals as well as insurance companies can play their part in saving our Planet Earth.
Risk Management Solutions (RMS) has launched several new models for the emerging Asia marketplace.
Benfield has signed a five-year agreement to provide an extensive range of risk modelling and consulting services to Lloyd’s and to syndicates within the Lloyd’s market.
Our Guest Editor this month, Mr Bruce Bowers, CEO Allianz Asia Pacific, talks about Customer Focus – the simple but powerful link between customer satisfaction and profitable business growth in the insurance business.
Following a dismal year impacted by a sharp decline in motor sales and the completion of infrastructure projects, the Taiwanese non-life market is looking towards new opportunities such as the sales of health products to give the industry a much needed boost. In an interview with Asia Insurance Review, Mr Tsan-Ming...
Following the acquisition of Central Insurance last August for about US$190 million, AIG is set to further strengthen its presence in Taiwan, aiming to be amongst the country’s top-three general insurers by 2011. Mr Rudi Spaan, Chairman of AIG General Insurance (Taiwan), shares with our Editor, Wendy...
Last November, LIMRA International and LOMA announced their intentions to begin discussions on a possible merger, a move that will pave the way for greater efficiencies and benefits for members. Messrs Thomas P Donaldson, President and CEO of LOMA, and Robert A Kerzner, President and CEO of LIMRA, updated...
Mr Clarence Wong, Swiss Re’s Head of Economic Research and Consulting, Asia, looks into his crystal ball and discusses promising growth areas as well as key threats in the region in an interview with Asia Insurance Review.
Although the Vietnamese economy registered favourable results in 2006 with GDP growth rate of 8.17% providing good impetus for the insurance industry, the adverse effects from natural catastrophes and epidemics continue to concern local insurers. In this country profile on Vietnam, we look at the challenges of the insurance industry and the rise...
The opportunities for growth in Vietnam are phenomenal. Here, Mr Michael Abadie, Chief Representative, JLT Vietnam, shares his views on the market and highlights the need for greater education among insurance buyers who are too eager to squeeze premiums without properly understanding the risk exposures.
Mr Trinh Quang Tuyen, Managing Director of the Vietnam National Reinsurance Corporation (VinaRe), shares with Asia Insurance Review his outlook on the reinsurance market in Vietnam in the wake of an influx of foreign investment and the challenges of rising claims.
Claims is the backbone of any insurance company and it can be as important if not more than the underwriting department. So in this Cover Story, we focus on what insurers can do in a natural catastrophe especially at a time when resources are limited and how adjusters’ expertise can help to mitigate large losses. We also showcase the...
Over the past five years, NTUC Income has retained its position as one of the leading motor insurers in Singapore. Here, Mr Freddy Neo shares the company’s unique claims approach pillared by four key strategies that have been fundamental to its success.
Natural catastrophes are major loss occurrences which usually cause immense economic or human losses. The Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004, Typhoon Xangsane which affected the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand in September 2006, and the Jakarta floods in February 2007 are examples of natural catastrophes that have affected Southeast Asia...
While loss adjusters may not be able to influence the parameters of a claim, their expertise can help to mitigate large losses. Mr Ian Mason, Director – Technical Services, Asia, Crawford & Company, explains.
Mr Ross Logie clears the air over two key issues that should be considered in effecting a business interruption cover and getting a business back on its feet.
Climate change seems to be headline news these days and with the broad recognition that Asia is the most vulnerable continent to natural catastrophes. In this article, Barlow Lyde & Gilbert discusses the liability implications for insurers and how it is imperative for the industry to act sooner rather than later.
FM Global looks at the importance of business continuity planning and how having a good strategy in place can make or break a company.
Citibank looks at the rising interest in foreign currency policies and how insurers can mimimise their exposures when underwriting these products.
Onerous regulatory compliance is the greatest risk facing the global insurance industry, according to the CSFI’s latest Banana Skins survey, in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Here, PWC shares the survey results and also sheds light on the biggest bugbears of the Singapore insurance industry and whether the city-state’s...
RGA Asia Pacific looks at the resurgence of the popularity of total & permanent disablement coverage on the back of efforts to increase benefit levels and a growing awareness of the complexities of managing these claims.
In today’s competitive environment, leading insurers around the world are adopting service-oriented architecture (SOA) to outperform competitors and build long-term competitive advantages. SAP AG looks at how the industry has migrated to this platform and embraced its benefits.
In the wake of substantial M&A activity in the region, Whittington Insurance (Asia) looks at the growth of solvency schemes in Asia and the benefits they present to both organisations and consumers.
Our India correspondent, Mr Jimmy John, looks at the insurance landscape six months after the introduction of detariffication and notes that insurers are not coping as well as anticipated.
In an exclusive interview with Mr Sandeep Bakhshi, MD & CEO of the largest private player ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, Mr Jimmy John finds out what his experiences have been in the past six months.
The first Asian Personal Lines Conference, attracting more than 130 delegates from the region, was held in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year. Here, conference Chairman Mr Praveen Gupta of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company, presents a personal and light-hearted helicopter perspective on the conference and the key themes...
It has been 15 years since LIMRA and LOMA came together to organise the first Strategic Issues Conference for CEOs and senior executives in the Asia-Pacific’s life insurance industry. The latest Conference held in Cebu, the Philippines, in June brought together more than 100 delegates to discuss and share learning points in multichannel...
Hong Kong’s Commissioner of Insurance, Mr Clement Cheung, the first regulator to be profiled in this column, shares humourous anecdotes of keeping a massive St Bernard, and recalls how he went to the extent of learning new languages just to enrich his knowledge about Asian cultures.
Standard & Poor’s has affirmed a stable outlook on most of the insurance markets in Asia Pacific. They reflect strengthening balance sheets and strong growth prospects for most markets, which remain supportive of the industry’s credit profile.
Fortis is expanding its Asian footprint following its recent acquisition of a 98.6% shareholding in Hong Kong-based Pacific Century Insurance Holdings (PCI) and the planned merger of its Thai unit with Phatra Insurance.
South and East Asia collected US$266.97 billion in total premiums last year, a jump of 9.5% over the previous year, while Japan and Asia’s newly industrialised economies saw a smaller increase of 0.9% to US$643.62 billion during the same period, figures released by Swiss Re in its latest sigma report showed.
Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) has released a paper that sets out its response to submissions on its proposals on securitisation.
Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) has concluded its investigation into a set of improper financial reinsurance transactions entered into by General Reinsurance Australia (GRA), the Australian subsidiary of General Reinsurance Corporation (Gen Re), between 1997 and 2001.
The Australia insurance industry saw a 2.2% year-on-year increase in premiums for the year ended 31 March to A$21.5 billion (US$18.22 billion).
Australian runoff manager Cobalt Solutions Australia has completed a third capital reduction, worth A$113 million (US$97.5 million), on behalf of Gordian RunOff.
In a bid to increase competition by attracting non-state capital into the sector, China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) will allow more large foreign reinsurers into the country’s reinsurance market, which is lagging far behind the development of the insurance sector, said the regulator in a report on its website.
China has issued new regulations permitting insurers, trust companies, financial leasing companies and other players in the financial sector to borrow from each other, as it seeks to develop an interbank market which has seen a 10-fold surge in trading over the past decade.
Aviva has signed a 10-year strategic partnership agreement with the Peking University China Centre for Insurance and Social Security Research (CCISSR) that will see the two entities co-operate on a wide range of areas ranging from joint academic research projects to sponsoring the annual CCISSR forum, lecture series and scholar programmes.
American International Underwriters Hong Kong (AIUHK) has launched Data Plus, a data risk protection service to meet the rising data protection needs against liability claims.
India’s first standalone health insurer has launched several plans that cater to senior citizens and diabetic patients, and will soon offer covers for HIV-infected patients and below-poverty-line (BPL) families.
The country’s largest life insurer, the public-sector Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), is planning to set up representative offices in Singapore and the US and has applied to the IRDA for approval.
The Indian non-life insurance market is set to double to US$11.6 billion by 2010 from US$4.85 billion in 2005, said a recently released report by Lloyd’s.
In a bid to reduce the premiums paid by policyholders and prevent misuse by companies, the IRDA has made it compulsory for life insurers to seek its approval before offering new riders on their insurance covers.
The general insurance industry recorded smaller profits last year due to a decline in underwriting income, said the Association of General Insurance Companies (AAUI).
The life insurance sector posted good first-quarter results with premiums increasing by 62% over the previous corresponding period to Rp8.65 trillion (US$951.5 million) and total revenue growing 57% year-on-year to Rp10.2 trillion, said the Indonesian Life Insurance Association (AAJI).
The Government will impose stricter regulations for the industry, including higher minimum capital requirements and corporate governance standards, said Dr Ahmad Fuad Rahmany, Head of the Capital Market and Financial Institution Supervisory Agency.
Indonesia’s tourism sector could suffer a blow after European insurers refused to insure tourists flying on Indonesian aircrafts.
Earthquake reinsurer PT Asuransi MAIPARK Indonesia recorded a 25% increase in gross premium income to Rp54.3 billion (US$6 million) last year, due mainly to growing demand for earthquake insurance.
In a sign that the Japanese insurance market is beginning to contract due to the greying population, new medical policies purchased in fiscal 2006 fell 9% year-on-year to about 2.74 million, the first drop since fiscal 2001, when sales restrictions on domestic firms were fully lifted.
Industry groups are taking actions aimed at pressurising the Government into delaying the planned full liberalisation of insurance sales through banks in December.
Following AXA’s acquisition of Winterthur Group, AXA Japan Holding Company has acquired all of Winterthur Swiss Life’s shares from Swiss-based Winterthur Life and made it a wholly owned subsidiary.
The final figures released by the FSA on its investigations into the recent non-payment scandal by 26 non-life insurers have shown that there was an increase of 56% in the number of non-payment cases from the previous count last September, while the unpaid benefits was 86% more in terms of value.
Tune Money, Malaysia’s first no-frills one-stop financial services company, has chosen CIMB Aviva, the newly formed insurance joint venture between CIMB Group and Aviva, as its partner to help develop and underwrite insurance products bearing the Tune Money brand.
MAA Takaful has received from Bank Negara Malaysia the official operating licence to commence operations.
Malaysian conglomerate Boustead Holdings has agreed to buy 45% of the Malaysian unit of Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Group for US$43.2 million cash from The London Assurance.
Following the Insurance Commission’s move to make it compulsory for the insurance industry to provide minimum wage earners access to insurance products, Philam Insurance has teamed up with cement firm Lafarge Semento to provide masons who have completed training on safe workplace practices with free insurance covers for a year.
Allied Banking Corporation has signed a share purchase agreement with New York Life International to raise its stake in the insurer’s Philippines unit to 75%, up from the present 25%.
Malayan Insurance has launched a new liability insurance product to cover past, present and future directors and officers of the availing company, as well as past and present employees holding supervisory or managerial positions.
Insurers introduced a slew of life products to the market recently, targeting various demographics from the young to the baby-boomers.
AXA Insurance has started guaranteeing certain service standards to its private motor insurance customers when they send their cars to any of its panel of approved motor workshops for accident repairs since July.
In a move that signifies the close ties of the Willis Singapore captive management company with the Willis Global Captive Practice, Richard Oliver International will now be known as Willis Management (Singapore).
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued a notice on an enhanced framework aimed at strengthening insurers’ internal governance practices on the management of the participating (par) life insurance fund, and enhancing disclosure standards to par policyholders.
Teams made up of various members of the insurance community in Singapore, including Lloyd’s, Munich Re, AIG, Willis, AXA and Liberty, met recently for the inaugural Singapore insurance market touch rugby competition.
The Singapore College of Insurance (SCI) has been appointed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) as one of the five Lead Providers of Financial Industry Competency Standards (FICS) accredited programmes targeted at financial institutions and practitioners in the insurance and wealth...
The Chairmen of the General Insurance Association of Korea (GIAK) and the Korea Life Insurance Association (KLIA) have issued a joint statement asking the Government to call off plans to expand bancassurance operations to the whole life and motor insurance sectors, stating that such covers are not suitable to be sold through banks.
In a bid to help domestic insurers enhance their global competitiveness, the Government will ease regulations to help them use their capital more efficiently and broaden their revenue sources, said Finance Minister Kwon Oh-kyu.
Korean Re is aiming to be among the top five players in the global reinsurance market by 2020 and planning to take over and invest in foreign insurers as well as acquire Korean financial institutions.
The board members of Union Insurance have approved a proposal which will see Chairman Tsai Eng Meng of Want Want Group obtain a 75% stake in the insurer for NT$1.5 billion (US$45.76 million).
Allianz has rebranded its Taiwan unit Allianz President Life as Allianz Taiwan Life Insurance Company (AZTL) after its transaction to acquire the minorities held by former joint-venture partner Uni-President Group was approved by the regulatory authorities in June.
The sluggish Thai economy, caused mainly by unfavourable domestic factors such as a lack of confidence toward the economy as well as delays in the State’s investments in mega-infrastructure projects, is expected to slow down the growth of the Thai non-life insurance sector.
The crowded Thai insurance industry and intensifying price competition have not deterred foreign firms from expressing their interests in local insurers.
Bao Minh Insurance is looking to partner with foreign investors in an attempt to increase its global competitiveness.
American International Group (AIG) and Bank of Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to expand their business co-operation in the country.
Bao Viet Insurance will not hold a second share auction following its May initial public offering (IPO), since the number of shares purchased in the initial auction has exceeded 70% of the total shares offered, said Chairman Le Quang Binh.
The insurance industry has welcomed the proposed directive adopted by the European Commission on Solvency II, which is expected to be fully implemented by 2012.
Insurers today are facing a range of common problems ranging from product innovative to cross-border competition, but the changes they require are also bringing new opportunities, said Delotitte Touche Tohmatsu in its recently published report, “Global Insurance Industry Outlook”.
In an effort to help clients make more informed decisions and to work together with insurers to improve industry standards, Willis Group has conducted its first global Carrier Evaluation Survey.
Munich Re is aiming for climate-neutral global reinsurance activities by 2012, setting new climate-protection standards for business operations in the international insurance sector.
Scottish Re Group has sold its Middle East Life portfolio, worth around US$22 million in annual premiums, to Arab Insurance Group (Arig).
Lloyd’s has teamed up with Adsensa, one of the London Market’s leading suppliers of slip and policy checking tools, to provide underwriters and brokers with access to Wordsensa QA technology for automated support for checking insurance slips.
As a further addition to its marine and aviation insurance operations, AXA Corporate Solutions (Specialty Markets) has entered the space insurance market.
The UK Government’s move to develop legislative proposals to modernise the governance arrangement for Lloyd’s has been welcomed by its Chairman, Lord Peter Levene.
The American Club is upbeat about its current standing and optimistic about the future after its annual report and accounts showed that free reserves had more than doubled to US$31.6 million, against just under US$15 million 12 months earlier.
As of 10 July, 77,937,316 shares of Converium Holding AG have been tendered to SCOR’s public offer for Converium’s publicly held shares.