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| This month in Asia Insurance Review |
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Interviews - Validus Research: Getting the price right
By licensing three catastrophe models, Validus Research’s mantra is to improve the modeling quality of catastrophe risks. Mr Stuart Mercer, CEO, Validus Research, Mr Lixin Zeng, President, Validus Research, and Mr Marc Haushofer, CEO Asia Pacific, Validus Reinsurance, Singapore Branch, say it is critical to get these elements right to achieve a stronger balance sheet.
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Country Profile Vietnam : Overview of Vietnam life insurance in 2009
The year 2009 could be seen as a good one for Vietnam’s life insurance sector as it maintained growth against the backdrop of the global economic downturn. But from a different perspective, the sector underperformed as it failed to tap its potential for which the global recession was not to blame. In addition, the market saw significant changes in life insurance perception and new waves of competition as current players strive to maintain their positions, while more new players are expected to join the field in the very near future. Mr Nguyen Thanh Dat, Head of Public Relations, ACE Life Vietnam, tells us more.*
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Cover Story - Climate Change and CATS : Climate change analytics: Limitations and opportunities
ISO’s subsidiary, Atmospheric and Environ-ment Research (AER)’s Dr Ross N Hoffman,
AIR Worldwide’s Dr Peter S Dailey and ISO’s Michael R Murray, discuss the importance of proactive risk management in the face of an uncertain future global climate. This article first appeared in the December issue of ISO Review, ISO’s quarterly publication for insurance executives and management.
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Cover Story - Climate Change and CATS : Climate impacts on Asian catastrophe risks
The ever-upward march of insured losses due to weather catastrophes has often been attributed to human-induced climate change in recent years. However, Mr William M Keogh, Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, EQECAT, and Mr David F Smith, Senior Vice President, Model Development Group, EQECAT, note the uncertainties in long-range projections of catastrophe activities and their implications on cat modeling.
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Focus on Catastrophes in Asia - Asian supercats
Aon Benfield Analytics looks at the history of catastrophe losses in Asia and extrapolates what these past losses would look like today and in the future as Asia’s economic growth accelerates.
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Loss Prevention Feature - Don't let your business blow away
Natural events, like windstorms, can wreak havoc on your business. FM Global says that while you may not be able to prevent a storm, you can prevent, or at least mitigate, the potential property damage and subsequent interruption to your business that it can cause.
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Product Liability Feature - The cost of doing business?
It is not a surprise that no matter how vigilant they are, manufacturers and suppliers (“exporters”) can find themselves facing product-liability lawsuits. Catlin Hong Kong Ltd tells us about the trends and the complex developments of such lawsuits.
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News - Asia: Pi FSI benchmarks productivity of agency forces
A new quantitative study by Singapore-based management consultancy Pi Financial Services Intelligence (Pi FSI) will benchmark the productivity of agency forces owned by the multinational life insurers across Asia over the last three years, by company and country.
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News - Asia: Aon Benfield identifies world’s five most vulnerable quake zones
Indonesia, Japan, Chile, the Caribbean and Cascadia in North America, are areas where mega-earthquakes of moment magnitude (Mw) 8+ are most likely to occur in the future, according to the report “When The Earth Moves: Mega-Earthquakes To Come?” released by Aon Benfield in conjunction with the Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre.
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News - Asia: OECD members establish platform for financial coverage of terrorism risk
The heads of the national terrorism insurance programmes of OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) member countries have agreed to set up a permanent international platform for the financial coverage of terrorism risk. The main focus will be to monitor the evolution of national systems of terrorism insurance as well as market trends.
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News - Australia: Superannuation sector to triple in size by 2035
The level of growth for Australia’s superannuation industry “will be very exciting” as the sector is set to triple in size by 2035, but the number of major funds will shrink, reported a local newspaper citing Mr Jeremy Cooper who chairs the federal government’s Super System Review.
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News - Hong Kong: Insurance boom boosts jobs
Hong Kong is set to become a new hub for global insurance, becoming one of the largest insurance finance centres by 2014, according to research commissioned by global insurance recruiter, Kinsey Allen International. The industry is expected to employ another 1,000 insurance specialists in Hong Kong by December and demand is pushing top insurance salaries to over HK$30 million (US$3.85 million).
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News - India: Reinsurance rates remain stable
Reinsurance rates in the Indian market have remained stable although global rates have softened and despite a number of catastrophes which have occurred this year, according to media reports.
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News - India: 4,000 corporate agency licences canceled
India’s insurance watchdog, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has canceled the licences of 4,261 corporate agencies that sell life or general insurance products as they did not apply for renewal of their licences when these expired on 31 March this year. This means that the agencies are not authorised to sell policies from 1 April.
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News - Indonesia: Super-regulator to be established this year
Indonesia’s proposed super financial regulator will be headed by a seven-member board of commissioners and is to be set up by the end of this year, according to Mr Fuad Rachmany, the head of the committee drafting the law governing the establishment of the new body.
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News - Singapore: New reinsurance hubs emerging
Singapore has emerged as the leading reinsurance hub in Asia, with Lloyd’s of London and a range of other international insurance and reinsurance businesses active in the market, according to a report by the international accounting and professional services firm, Deloitte.
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News - Taiwan: Life insurers post 18% increase in 1Q
Taiwan’s life insurers collected a total of NT$577.66 billion (US$18.1 billion) in premiums for the first quarter of 2010, an increase of 18.4% from the corresponding period last year, according to data from the Taiwan Insurance Institute (TII).
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News - Thailand: Financial planning sector faces challenges
The growing complexity of the local capital market in Thailand has raised demand for professional wealth managers and financial advisers in the country. But the financial planning industry faces challenges such as a talent shortage, lack of consumer awareness and market structure.
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Global News - RGA added to FORTUNE 500 List
Reinsurance Group of America, Inc (RGA), a leading global life reinsurer has entered the prestigious annual FORTUNE 500 list of America’s largest corporations at No.321, based on total revenue.
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Global News - Reinsurers eager to place more terrorism business: Guy Carpenter
Insurers and reinsurers have become increasingly sophisticated in their use of expert advice to monitor the political climate and dynamic nature of the terrorism threat, even as reinsurance supply continues to outpace demand, according to findings from Guy Carpenter & Co’s report: Terrorism: Reinsurers Standing By.
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Special News - Deepwater Horizon: Affecting the insurance industry deeply?
On 20 April, an explosion and fire occurred on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which had been drilling an exploratory well that was 5,000 ft underwater in the Gulf of Mexico. The platform subsequently sank, with 11 crew members dead, and the uncompleted well has since been leaking oil that has caused widespread environmental damage. Deepwater Horizon, a joint venture led by BP, is the largest US offshore energy event to have occurred in the last 40 years and is among the top two most expensive property losses in history for energy insurers. On 1 June, federal authorities opened criminal and civil investigations into the spill. We take a look at this historic disaster from an insurance perspective.
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