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| This month in Asia Insurance Review |
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Interviews - Making Its Mark in Asia
Markel International Singapore is one of the latest additions to join the rapidly growing Lloyd’s Asia platform in the Republic. Asia Insurance Review had a roundtable discussion with the team at the helm, Mr Paul Springman, Executive Vice President, Markel Corporation, Mr Richard Fricker, Director of Overseas Offices, Markel International, and Mr Peter Phillips, Managing Director of Markel International Singapore, on the timing of the launch amidst a period when the reinsurance market is still generally awash with capital and rates are softening, and their plans for the company in the region.
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Interviews - Ramping up Investment in Asia
Following a record year in 2007 - both globally and in Asia - Sun Life Financial is not resting on its laurels. Here, Mr Stephan Rajotte, President of the company’s Asian business, shares with Asia Insurance Review his aggressive five-year strategic plan for the region which includes ramping up investment in its operations in India and China, while enhancing market share through a combination of strategic marketing, product innovation and diverse distribution.
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Country Profile - Singapore: Mixed Outcome for Singapore Insurance Industry in 2007
The Singapore insurance industry recorded mixed performance last year as the industry was faced with a slew of new regulatory developments. The new tax incentives, as part of the 2008 Government Budget, was a welcome move for (re)insurance brokers, while on the life front the industry braced itself for the expected impact of the new CPF rules on single-premium business. The non-life sector on the other hand was reeling from the disastrous motor results which recorded a staggering S$103.2m loss. Our country profile on Singapore this month looks at how the industry is coping and what lies ahead.
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Country Profile - Singapore: More to Life Besides Investments
2007 marked a bumper year for Singapore’s life insurance industry. However, with the new CPF rules and the ongoing protection gap in the market, much needs to be done in order for the industry to continue to register sterling results and provide adequate protection for consumers.
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Country Profile - Singapore: GIA Creating a Buzz
Throughout the past year the General Insurance Association (GIA) has streamlined its functions and launched several new initiatives to better serve its member companies, including unveiling a brand new identity. With the advent of Generation Y moving into the corporate world and joining various sectors, there is a need to reposition and rejuvenate the general insurance industry to attract and retain these young talents. In an exclusive interview, Executive Director of GIA, shares the association’s initiatives to make this industry shimmer.
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Country Profile - Bangladesh: Too Many Players, But Looking Ahead with Hope
Despite a population of over 150 million and a GDP growth rate of 6.7% in 2006, the Bangladesh insurance market is relatively small with premium income of around 32,551.81 million taka. The market offers numerous challenges and opportunities as discovered by our correspondent in the region who visited the market and spoke to key players there.
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Country Profile - Bangladesh: Forging Ahead with Microinsurance
Delta Life Insurance Company was founded in late 1986 soon after the denationalisation of the Bangladesh financial sectors. Delta Life’s initial products consisted primarily of endowment policies, but in 1988, inspired by the growing success of the Grameen Bank and other microcredit schemes in Bangladesh, Delta launched an experiment of its own, Grameen Bima or village insurance. Subsequently, it developed and introduced an urban microinsurance project, Gono Bima, which offered a similar endowment product. Delta Life’s microinsurance programmes experienced astonishing growth. Today, 40% of Delta Life’s portfolio is from microinsurance and the company is the leader of the country in this segment whose strategies others are trying to emulate. In an exclusive interview with Delta Life Insurance Co, about its microinsurance initiaties and the future of the life market in Bangladesh.
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Country Profile - Bangladesh: The Future is Takaful
Prime Islami Life Insurance Ltd (PILIL) was incorporated in Bangladesh in the name of Prime Life Insurance Ltd in July 2000. With the demand for Shariah-compliant products in the majority Muslim country, the company changed its name to Prime Islami Life Insurance Ltd in April 2002 and is today one of the fastest-growing life insurers in Bangladesh. It has over 750 sales offices across the country and a field force of 30,000. PILIL is the only insurance company in Bangladesh having ISO certification. The company’s premium earning in 2007 was over taka 800 million from taka 59 million in 2002. In an exclusive interview with Asia Insurance Review, the Managing Director talks about the takaful market and his vision to make PILIL one of the top five life insurers in Bangladesh by 2012.
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Cover Story - Bancassurance: Bancassurance Penetrates Deep through Asian Markets
In the pursuit to create a profitable alternative to traditional distribution models, the courtship between banks and insurers has risen globally. Asia’s adoption of bancassurance has been relatively harmonious. However, a myriad of challenges from ill-trained practitioners and consumer resistance have plagued progress. Similarly, regulatory involvement has stunted growth in some markets, while enhancing penetration within emerging markets like China and India. As a curtain raiser to our 9th Asian Bancassurance Conference this month, our Journalist Ms Min Yong unveils the trends and developments within Asia.
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Cover Story - Bancassurance Trends in Asia
Bancassurance in Asia is still an emerging channel, but it is making significant inroads both in emerging markets such as China and India and developed markets such as Japan. Mr Neil Katkov, SVP, Asia Research, Ms Wenli Yuan, Senior Analyst, Mr Ravin Nawal, Analyst, and Ms Catherine Stagg-Macey, Senior Analyst, all from Celent, zero in on these three markets and discuss its progress.
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Cover Story - Bancassurance: Profiting from Bancassurance Expansion in Asia - Lessons from Europe
European financial services companies have long recognised the benefits of offering insurance products through banks as bancassurance has now become the leading distribution channel for life and pension products, accounting for nearly 50% of new sales (APE) in Europe in 2007. Behind this high and rising share of business, there is wide variation in performance both in terms of volumes sold and profitability achieved by both partners. Here, Messers Alan Baker, Senior Consultant, Insurance, Richard Thornton, Partner, Insurance, and John Higginson, Partner, Insurance from Oliver Wymann, share research that indicates that one of the key drivers of successful bancassurance performance in Europe is the match of sales model to product type, and failure to recognise this explains the variation in performance observed across Europe.
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Cover Story - CFOs in Asia: Taking Stock and Looking Forward - What's on the Horizon for CFOs?
As a curtain raiser to our CFO Conference in Singapore later this month, we look at the issue of unit pricing, which deserves to be high on the agenda of CFOs in Asia for a variety of reasons, particularly because of the substantial financial implications that a unit pricing error can have on the reputation of the financial services company which sold the fund-based product.
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Banking Column - Breaking New Ground in Life Insurance Cash Management
Prudential Corporation Asia has been managing its Asian cash management operations on a “per market” basis and recently worked with Standard Chartered Bank to provide a standardised cash management solution across 10 Asian markets. This article highlights key features of the solution which represents the first cash management model to be standardised across multiple markets for an insurer in Asia.
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Pensions Column - Easing Employees' Retirement Investing Fears
Are lifecycle funds the answer? With the rapid growth of defined contribution retirement schemes in Hong Kong, employees bear more responsibility than ever for researching, selecting and managing their retirement investments. The Principal Financial Group looks at the intricacies of the issue, for which many employees remain unprepared for, as well as the implications of assuming too little or too much risk.
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Think Tank - The Geneva Association: On Crises and Regulation
Against the backdrop of the sub-prime crisis and US economic woes, the Geneva Association, discuses in this excerpt from the Association's Information Newsletter on Insurance and Finance, the relationship between financial crises and the way they influence the development of new regulation in insurance.
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Legal Page - Reinsurers, Take Note
The team at Barlows looks at the recent decision by the English Court of Appeal to overturn the verdict in the case of Wasa International Insurance Company Ltd (Wasa) and AGF Insurance Company Ltd (AGF) vs Lexington Insurance Company (Lexington), which marks significant development for reinsurers.
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Insights - Do Not Let Your Business Be Blown Away
With the increasing frequency of windstorms across Asia wreaking havoc on businesses, FM Global shares tips on how companies can prevent or mitigate potential damage and subsequent interruption, while not letting their businesses be blown in the wind.
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Insights - Shanghai as a Regional Reinsurance Market
We bring you an extract of a comprehensive Research Report by Shanghai Asian Insurance Brokers, on the establishment of Shanghai as a regional reinsurance market which outlines the why’s, how’s and wherefore’s of this strategy.
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Insights - Building a Career on Trust
As the industry focuses on attracting talent to the industry, Insight Adjusters Group urges companies to sell the industry on the social rewards of delivering on promises as much as the materialistic trappings of a successful career.
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News - Asia: Grants from the Microinsurance Innovation Facility
The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Microinsurance Innovation Facility has announced the availability of the first round of innovation grants to stimulate new ideas and test innovative approaches to providing better insurance products to under-served markets.
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News - Asia: Insurance Growth Rates in Asia to Exceed 10%
Powered by strong economic performance, dense population, rise in premium savings, and financial reform, growth rates in Asia will exceed 13% for non-life insurance and 11% for life insurance by the year 2010, with India, China, South Korea, and Hong Kong among the most attractive markets, said market research publisher Global Industry Analysts.
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News - China: Gen Re Expands Presence in China in Partnership with VHS
Cologne Reinsurance Company (Gen Re) and Valurise Health Solutions (VHS), the pioneer in health management services in China, have formed a partnership to jointly expand chronic disease prevention and health management initiatives in the Mainland’s insurance industry and to provide support to insurers in domains of health insurance product development and health insurance risk management in China.
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News - China: Insurers Urged to Boost Farm Insurance
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) is calling for better farm insurance products this year and has specifically recommended that insurers should further promote government-subsidised insurance on crop planting and livestock breeding.
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News - India: GIC to Take Over Motor Insurance Pool
The General Insurance Council (GIC), which represents non-life insurers in India, is expected to have vested ownership of the India Motor Insurance Pool which is currently administered by state-owned reinsurer General Insurance Corporation of India, according to a report in the Business Line, a business daily.
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News - Indonesia: Three Reinsurers Should Merge, Says Former Chairman of AAUI
Indonesia’s three government-owned reinsurers, PT Tugu Reasuransi Indonesia (Tugu-Re), PT Reasuransi Internasional Indonesia (Reindo) and PT Nasional Re (Nasre), need to merge to create a single stronger company to absorb national capacity, said former Chairman of Asosiasi Asuransi Umum Indonesia (AAUI) Frans Y Sahusilawane in his autobiography.
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News - Sri Lanka: More Enter the Sri Lankan Life Market
Allianz Insurance Lanka has applied to the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka to commence life business in the country, the local media reported, citing Mr Heinz Dolberg, the Executive Vice President of Allianz SE’s Asia, the Middle East, and the North Africa Division.
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News - Lloyd's Reports US$7.7 Bln Profit for 2007
Lloyd’s made a pre-tax profit of £3,846 million (US$7,654 million) in 2007, up from £3,662 million in 2006, because of profitable underwriting conditions, strengthened capital resources, and focus on underwriting discipline.
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News - Moscow International Reinsurance Congress Sees Russia Gaining Momentum
Principles and mechanisms of the regulation and development of global reinsurance operations, as well as the need for greater collaboration between national markets and global reinsurers were discussed at length at the Moscow Reinsurance Congress 2008 held in March, attended by over 160 delegates from 24 countries.
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