Most insurers in Asia (93%) are confident or very confident about complying with IFRS17 by the effective date of 1 January 2021. This compared with 96% in Europe, 68% in Canada and the US, said Deloitte.
Customer-centric product terms and conditions will be necessary to overcome the trust and social licence issues that have put the life insurance industry in the spotlight recently, according to KPMG in its Life Insurance Insights Report 2018.
Twenty-one general insurance companies have reinsurance claims worth BDT3,644.7m ($43.7m) pending with state-run Sadharan Bima Corporation (SBC) as of March, which left them with a shortage of funds needed to pay their clients.
China Reinsurance (Group) Corporation has agreed to acquire Chaucer, a Lloyd’s-focused international specialty business, from US-based The Hanover Insurance Group for $950m.
Total gross premiums in Hong Kong reached HK$253.7bn ($32.3bn), an increase of 7.2% in the first six months of this year over the corresponding period in 2017, according to provisional statistics released by the Insurance Authority (IA).
India is likely to see 30% growth in cyber insurance policy sales, after the enactment of the personal data protection law.
The general insurance market posted gross premium of IDR33.1tn ($2.2bn) in the first half of 2018, growing by 11% compared to the corresponding period last year, says the Indonesian General Insurance Association (AAUI).
Major non-life insurer, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, plans in 2019 to introduce artificial intelligence to train its employees to improve their business skills, according to sources.
The Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM) and Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) have signed a MoU to collaborate on providing insurance to freelancers or gig workers.
The programme of reforms announced by the Insurance Business Regulatory Board is expected to open up several activities to insurers soon.
The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) has said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is invigorating all sectors of the insurance industry.
MSIG Insurance and Anapi, a Singapore-based API-first InsurTech start-up, are collaborating to bring innovative insurance protection through digital partners via an easy-to-integrate API service.
Fitch Ratings expects South Korean non-life insurers to increasingly rely on issuing hybrid securities, subordinated debt or fresh equity to strengthen their solvency adequacy, given progressive tightening in local statutory risk-based capital measures and upward movement in interest rates.
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has revised stock listing eligibility criteria for insurance companies, which is to be based on applicants’ profitability, repayment capacity and liquidity, as well as their regulatory compliance track record.
The Export Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM Thailand) has expanded its scope of trade and investment insurance services, its president Pisit Serewiwattana has said.
Insurers, including life and non-life ones, collected VND58.6tn ($2.5bn) in premium in the first half of this year, up by 24% year-on-year, according to the Insurance Supervisory Agency under Vietnam’s finance ministry.
Global
AIG CEO Brian Duperreault, keynoter for the upcomimg 15th SIRC, sees ‘huge potential’ within the insurer’s portfolio for use of a market in which investors trade assets tied to insurance liabilities.
Aon Securities launched its annual report on the insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector, which analyses the trends in the 12 months to 30 June 2018, and also provides an overview of related markets and (re)insurance mergers and acquisitions activity.
Risk
Singapore’s data protection watchdog has issued updated guidelines to enhance consumer protection against the indiscriminate collection, use and disclosure of individuals’ National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) numbers and retention of physical NRICs.
Accumulation risks need to be addressed in the context of a hyper connected digital world, as cyber insurance offerings and premium volumes expand sizeably. Sustainable growth in the cyber insurance market should not be taken for granted, says a new report from the Geneva Association called Advancing Accumulation Risk Management in Cyber Insurance.