Magazine

Read the latest edition of AIR and MEIR as an Interactive e-book

Dec 2021

AIR 30th anniversary



Leadership insights

Making insurance relevant for the masses

The likely changes across the insurance landscape over the next 10 years will be more wide ranging than over the last 30. COVID-19 has provided the catalyst for many companies to transform and digitalise many aspects of their business, particularly new business processes and this will accelerate quickly, says Actuaries OnTap’s Mr Alex King.
 

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Importance of digital - and people

As we look to the next five years and beyond, we have to plan for a post-COVID world and integrate all of our learnings from the past 20 months into everything that we do going forward. Agility, flexibility and adaptability have always been critical to success, but the new landscape we’re in has really brought this home, says AIG Japan’s Mr James Nash.
 

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Climate change and insurance: Putting scientific knowledge into action

Climate change is making scientific insights all the more important. As the world gets warmer, the climate-related risks change and the way humans are developing is only intensifying any effect we will see in the future, says Allianz Re’s Dr Sibylle Steimen.
 


Next era of insurance will be defined by inclusivity

The challenges facing the world have created an opportunity for the insurance industry to embrace their role of providing inclusive protection fully. For this we need to understand the needs of customers and close the gaps in insurance cover, says AXA’s Mr Gordon Watson.
 

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Writing the future of Indian health insurance

The credit for bringing the focus on health insurance in India goes to COVID-19. Though a dubious distinction, people realised the importance of insurance as they saw their near and dear ones affected by this, hitherto unknown risk, says Bajaj Allianz General Insurance’s Mr Tapan Singhel.
 

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Future of insurance and how regulation can support

Bank Negara Malaysia continues to focus its efforts towards shaping a more supportive insurance landscape for the future. To that end, it is undertaking several developmental initiatives to cultivate further digitalisation, market efficiency and inclusion across the industry, says assistant governor Adnan Zaylani Mohamad Zahid.
 

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Claims settlement can be pleasant

Smooth settlement of claims has always been the test for insurance companies. Insurance Brokers Association of India’s Mr R Balasundaram says insurance brokers can make it smooth for all stakeholders and especially for the insureds.
 

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Whole health, working patterns and technology

There can be no doubt the pandemic has had a profound effect on the insurance sector across Asia. Looking ahead, Cigna’s Mr Julian Mengual sees three trends that will grow in importance.
 

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Life insurance market outlook

Clyde & Co’s Mses Joyce Chan and Ganga Narayanan highlight the developments likely to shape the Asian and Australian life insurance markets in the year ahead.
 

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InsurTechs: Enablers or disruptors?

With the exception of insurance, every financial product has joined the information age. Banking services are mobile enabled and consumer friendly, portfolio managers remain competitive because of granular real-time data and hedge funds leverage high-frequency trading to generate alpha. In comparison, insurance has stagnated. This begs two questions, says DocDoc’s Mr Cole Sirucek: Why has insurance failed to innovate – and to what degree will the future look like the past?
 

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Connected, cool and no longer a tech laggard

Digitalisation of insurance has just got started and not much real change has been achieved. Is talk of digital insurance just another passing fad that will soon be forgotten? eBaoTech’s Dr Woody Mo asks, is the insurance industry destined to be a tech laggard, with a justification that the industry is just different from all others?
 

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All's well that ends better

It’s easy to come up with good ideas about what health insurance will look like, since so many new things are happening already that will become part of the business. Eigengrey Consulting’s Mr Greg Solomon says the real challenge is in deciding which of these game-changers will dominate.
 

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A look at the life insurer of tomorrow

As insurance solutions become more commoditised and the needs of different demographics evolve, the modern life insurers must innovate and properly utilise data and technology to stand out, says Etiqa Insurance Singapore’s Ms Shirley Tan.
 

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The future of bancassurance in Asia

The pandemic has accelerated the transformation of many industries. To remain competitive, insurers will need to be agile and adapt quickly to this digital shift, says HSBC Life’s Mr Harpreet Bindra.
 

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The future of insurance

Insurance is a 300-year-old industry with traditional and legacy tech, products, structures, business models and personnel. Meanwhile, a wide swathe of the global population is uninsured and underinsured. The numbers are more pronounced in Southeast Asia, with countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines registering insurance penetration rates of under 1% against the global average of 4.1%, says Igloo’s Mr Raunak Mehta.
 

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Redefining insurance education for the future

The future of insurance education and training is undergoing rapid transformation and the COVID-19 pandemic has only hastened the pace, says Insurance Institute of India’s Mr Deepak Godbole.
 

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Asia Pacific to power growth for insurers

Insurers in the Asia-Pacific region are bouncing back from the pandemic with refreshed perspectives on product propositions and customer services using digitalisation and innovation, say KA Pandit Consultants & Actuaries’ Ms Jinal Pandit and Mr Kulin Patel.
 

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Supply chain vulnerabilities a blind spot for cyber security

The risk landscape has become more complex since the pandemic with corporate leaders not only expected to protect their organisations from cyber threats, but to do it across a more remote, hybrid and challenging IT infrastructure and operating environment, says Kaspersky’s Mr Yeo Siang Tiong.
 
 

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The future of (non-life) insurance in the region

No matter how many challenges our economies may face in the short term, or how many bumps in the road may appear along the way, the macroeconomic opportunity presented by the growing middle class and rising economies in Asia Pacific will continue to grow and this region will drive the global expansion of the non-life insurance industry for the foreseeable future, says Lloyd’s Mr Pavlos Spyropoulos.
 

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The future of life insurance in Asia

People in Asia are paying more attention to their health and wellbeing. Life insurers looking to capitalise on this growing trend will need to have the right products and ecosystems in place to give these customers what they want, when they want it, says Manulife Asia’s Mr Anil Wadhwani.
 

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Redefining insurance broking through risk advisory

Insurance brokers in Asia must provide innovative and data-driven client solutions to address a hardening insurance market and an increasingly unpredictable risk landscape. Marsh Asia’s Mr David Jacob explains how they can adapt.
 

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The future of life insurance in Australia

The regulatory reforms that have come in the aftermath of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry and the pandemic have galvanised Australia’s life insurance industry into taking action for a more sustainable future, says MetLife Australia’s Mr Richard Nunn.
 

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Private medical insurance in Southeast Asia

Before the pandemic, insurers saw rising medical utilisation and costs and continued pressure on underwriting margins across almost all markets, says Milliman’s Mr Pang-Hsiang Chye.
 

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Data analytics to drive insurance business in APAC

As companies look to expand and grow amidst the challenging environment, big data and analytics will have a profound impact on the fundamentals of insurance business in the region, says MSIG Insurance’s Mr Kelvin Hii.
 

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Insurance and reinsurance in a post-COVID-19 world

At the start of the pandemic, many companies were forced quickly to invest in technology and activate their business continuity plans to allow business ‘as usual’. With technology, anyone can work anywhere without having to be 100% physically present in the office, says Munich Re Syndicate’s Ms Hui Yun Boo.
 

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Philippine insurance in a post-COVID-19 world

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on the way we live and the way we do business. Amid stringent health protocols and community quarantines in the Philippines, the impact of this economic and health crisis has been clearly felt by all, says Nat Re’s Mr Allan Rossi Santos.
 

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Digital technology and going green

Digital transformation will be the main focus of the property insurance industry for a long time to come, says Ping An Property & Casualty Insurance Company of China’s Mr Guo Xiaotao.
 

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Managing healthcare will no longer be a solo activity

Health insurance is undergoing rapid transformation, from digital disruption and legislation to start-ups and M&A. Prudential Life Assurance Thailand’s Ms Susan Fanning says throughout this transformation it is important that insurers look to build the future of healthcare together with other players.
 

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The future of insurance is promising

In the insurance industry, we focus on mitigating uncertainty; we provide protection against unforeseen events – including, even, a global pandemic. The industry rising to the challenge of COVID-19 has been a career high point, says Reinsurance Group of America’s former president Mr Greig Woodring.
 

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Embedded insurance: The future of InsurTech

As it becomes increasingly important to provide customers with the right product at the right time as well as a hassle-free experience, the nature of embedded insurance means that it could very well represent the future of InsurTech, says ZA Tech’s Mr Young Yang.

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