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May 2018

News


Asian

Finalists for the 3rd Asia Trusted Life Agents & Advisers Awards 2018 announced

A total of 46 candidates from 11 markets have edged out 400 contenders from 50 companies and made it to the finals of the 3rd Asia Trusted Life Agents & Advisers Awards 2018. The awards offers a neutral platform to recognise the best in life insurance agency and advisory across the region.
 


22nd Asia Insurance Industry Awards calls for nominations

Asia Insurance Review has sounded this year’s call for the best and brightest of Asia’s insurance industry to take part in the 22nd Asia Insurance Industry Awards (AIIA) 2018. Nominations are now open till 31 May.
 


Asia: Insurers must leverage China's Belt and Road Initiative projects

Asia Insurance Review is organising its inaugural two-day Insurance Summit on Belt and Road Initiative from 12-13 June 2018, in light of the tremendous opportunities arising out of what China’s President Xi Jinping called the “project of the century” which is tipped to be worth $900bn. 
 


Asia: Region leads the way in IFRS 17 implementation

Asian companies have been among the first in the world to start preparing for the new International Financial Reporting Standard 17 (IFRS17) which will significantly change the way insurance contracts are measured and reported. Korean insurers are the most advanced in preparing for the implementation of the accounting standard.
 


Bangladesh: Airline receives compensation for crashed plane

State-owned Sadharan Bima has paid $0.7m in the first tranche of the compensation payable for the US-Bangla Airlines plane that crashed in Kathmandu on 12 March.
 


Australian Insurance Industry Awards are open for nominations till 7 May

The Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) and Asia Insurance Review have announced that submissions for the Australian Insurance Industry Awards are now open. 
 


China: Central bank gives more details on liberalising insurance mart

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has announced 11 measures aimed at further opening China’s financial services sector, including the insurance market, to foreign participants.
 


Hong Kong: Call for light touch in insurance broking regulation

Several hundred members of the Professional Insurance Brokers Association have urged Insurance Authority chairman Moses Cheng Mo-chi to refrain from introducing heavy handed regulation. 
 


India: Complaints mount at 'headless' Insurance Ombudsman offices

About 6,000-7,000 complaints have piled up at all 17 Insurance Ombudsman offices in India because the post of Ombudsman has been vacant in these offices for months.
 


Indonesia: Non-life market forecast to grow by 5% in 2018

The General Insurance Association of Indonesia has predicted that non-life premiums would grow by at least 5% this year, based on robust performance seen in the early months of the year.
 


Japan: MS&AD issues first CAT bond against flood and typhoon risks

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance, which are subsidiaries of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, have jointly sponsored the first catastrophe bond in the non-life insurance industry to provide protection against flood risks as well as typhoon risks in Japan, according to a corporate statement.
 


Malaysia: Growth prospects for insurance and takaful industry seen as positive

The insurance and takaful industry in Malaysia is improving given the ample room for growth, supported by proactive measures to innovate the industry taken by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), says MIDF Amanah Investment Bank’s research arm, MIDF Research.
 


Philippines: Sun Life leads life market in 2017

Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) remains the top life insurance company in the Philippines with premium income of PHP32bn ($616m) in 2017, based on a data released by the Insurance Commission. 
 


Singapore: Insurance industry personnel attend ILAS event

A large group of members and friends of the Insurance Law Association Singapore (ILAS) turned up for its Networking Evening evening held on the 1 March. 
 


South Korea: Life insurers seen to invest more in foreign assets

Korean life insurers are expected increasingly to divest themselves from some of their longer-dated domestic bond holdings in favour of higher-yielding foreign assets, reports Bloomberg citing Mr Karan Talwar, Hong Kong-based investment specialist for emerging-market debt at BNP Paribas Asset Management. 
 


Taiwan: Shin Kong targets higher sales of foreign-currency insurance plans

Shin Kong Financial Holding, one of Taiwan’s largest financial services groups, aims to increase sales of foreign currency insurance policies and wealth management products by double digits this year as hedging costs remain a challenge.
 


Thailand: Drunk drivers barred from lodging motor claims

Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) has reminded motorists that those involved in an accident while under the influence of alcohol cannot make an insurance claim.
 


Vietnam: 25% of housing blocks in Hanoi covered by insurance

Only 179 or around a quarter of 718 multi-storey apartment buildings in Hanoi were covered by fire insurance as at 4 April, according to the Hanoi fire prevention and control police department. More than half of the 179 apartment buildings which are insured are high-class buildings, according to Vietnam News.
 


Global

Insurance Europe issues GDPR data breach notification template

Insurance Europe, the European insurance and reinsurance federation, has issued a template for reporting data breaches to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
 


UnitedHealth and Humana launch blockchain pilot

Two of the largest health insurance providers in the US announced in early April that they would pursue a blockchain pilot aimed at improving the quality of healthcare data.
 


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Events Page

Singapore: University students get a taste of real-world risk management