Having just returned from a trip to China, Mr Ulrich Wallin, Chairman of the Board of Management, Hannover Re Group, shares his view on the behemoth market and his company’s successes there so far, as well as talks about the reinsurer’s strong results in other regions.
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From being a troubled French reinsurer to regaining its position as the fifth-largest global reinsurance group, SCOR has accomplished an impressive turnaround. Going forward, Mr Victor Peignet, CEO, SCOR Global P&C, shares the company’s plans to cultivate selective and profitable growth in the non-life business and to further strengthen its positions, including possibly through Lloyd’s.
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Boosted by its proximity to the dynamo China, the Hong Kong insurance sector is still growing with the lure of being the first yuan clearing centre outside mainland China. On the regulatory front, the OCI is rebuilding consumer confidence while going ahead with plans to set up a Policyholder Protection Fund (PPF) and the independent Insurance Authority.
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Having been with the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) for little over a year,
Ms Annie Choi, Commissioner of Insurance, talks about the need to strengthen regulatory fundamentals which include policyholder protection, market conduct and various new initiatives. She also traces the development of the proposed Independent Insurance Authority.
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Milton Friedman once said: “If you want to see capitalism in action, go to Hong Kong.” This free market orthodoxy may well be applicable to Hong Kong’s general insurance market. Swiss Re’s Senior Economist Dr Raymond Yeung and its P&C team Vice President Ms Anna Lee, discuss Hong Kong’s still competitive general insurance market, and its challenges and opportunities.
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As at June 2010, Hong Kong had 170 authorised insurers, of which 46 were pure life insurers and 19 were composite insurers. According to sigma No 2/2010, Hong Kong was fifth globally in terms of insurance penetration with a total penetration of 11%, and life insurance penetration stood at 9.6%. We take a quick look at how the life sector has performed.
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So much is happening in this dynamic market teeming with opportunities and challenges even as the regulator actively reviews regulations while the lure of the cross-Strait pact boosts cautious optimism.
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2010 has been an eventful year for Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) so far. It has been kept busy seeking suitors for insolvent Kuo Hua Life, while rejecting bidders for AIG’s Nan Shan Life and MetLife. It has revised investment rules following the inking of a trade pact with China, allowing Taiwan’s insurers to now invest in mainland stocks. FSC is also continuing to ensure proper market conduct by revising regulations on insurance intermediaries, and pushing for insurers to improve their operations of the Compulsory Automobile Liability Insurance (CALI) system. In an interview with them, we check on the latest on the island and the upcoming regulations.
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Taiwan’s life sector is bouncing back after an austere period. Its total premium income has gone up and life insurers’ net worth is back to the pre-crisis level. Players’ operating performance weakened, however, in the first half of this year, and negative spread remains a key challenge.
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Banks continue to gain clout in Taiwan life insurance’s distribution scene, but this has not stopped other channels from also growing. And along with the diversification of the distribution landscape, bancassurance is also seeing a change in its dynamics.
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Several foreign insurers have left Taiwan. However, Cardif Assurance believes that there are still many opportunities despite the challenges. Mr Ben Ng, Country Manager, Cardif Assurance Vie, Taiwan Branch, tells us why they are optimistic.
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Long known as a catastrophe-prone country, Taiwan has recently bore the brunt of several strong typhoons, which served as wake-up calls to the industry to provide more cover and to the public to buy more protection.
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Reinsurers are facing a myriad of challenges in this mature market. Ms Meimei Wang, Asia Capital Reinsurance Group’s Taiwan Chief Representative, gives an update of the insurance market, as well as how reinsurers can still work for a win-win partnership with local insurers.
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The kickoff this year of a cross-Strait economic co-operation agreement between Taiwan and China is believed to be significant to Taiwanese insurers in, or entering, the mainland – particularly if it allows them to compete on a more level playing field with Chinese insurers. Looking inward, analysts do not expect the pact to attract much investment to Taiwan’s already crowded insurance sector.
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So much is happening in this dynamic market teeming with opportunities and challenges even as the regulator actively reviews regulations while the lure of the cross-Strait pact boosts cautious optimism.
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It is always about people. Companies succeed or fail because of people. So finding and retaining topnotch employees cannot be left to a one-time off or an annual recruitment exercise. We check with five major insurance groups in the region about their philosophies in luring and keeping top talent.
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Mr Roderick Haire, Managing Director, J Robert Scott Executive Search, looks at recruitment and talent management in Asia’s insurance industry post-GFC, citing positive diversity as the way forward for insurers.
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One of the top priorities for any HR professional is to retain of high-value employees, not simply from a pure business standpoint, but in respect of many other qualities that such people bring to a company, ranging from boosting morale to infusing corporate culture to helping ease the arrival of newcomers. Mr Shubhro Mitra, AXA Asia Life, Regional General Manager, Human Resources, tells us what are some of the things that contribute to employees’ satisfaction.
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The twin forces of globalisation and technological advancements have altered the market dynamics, most profoundly in the financial services industry. Mr Daniel Viets, Executive Director and CEO of Asian Institute of Finance (AIF), and Dr Wan Nursofiza, a Senior Research fellow at AIF, look at this sector in Malaysia and at AIF’s efforts to meet the growing human capital needs there.
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With claims payout being the largest expense for an insurance carrier, it is crucial that insurers adopt a strict and professional approach to paying claims to boost efficiency, profitability and grow the top line. So get it right from the start – the pre-survey, roping in experts and making claims part of CRM.
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Mr Bruce Swales, Managing Director, LWG Consulting Pte Ltd, explains how bringing in an experienced engineering expert can shorten the claim cycle time, minimise business interruption and reduce the amount claimed.
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In many Asian countries, the insurance sector is extremely competitive. Insurers need to look for innovative ideas to gain a competitive edge. One area, often overlooked as an excellent marketing tool, is claims. Mr John Pyall, International Coordinator Claims at Munich Re, looks how the establishment of a good Client Relationship Management in Claims can bring opportunities to insurers in the Asia Pacific to optimise their growth.
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Claims is no longer a backroom function. Mr Gerald-Lane McFee at Chartis Asia Pacific details the changes needed in processes and structures and the need for these to be centred on the customer.
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While we are emerging from an almost unprecedented financial crisis, Mr Patrick M Liedtke of The Geneva Association says that we are not out of the woods yet.
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Barlow Lyde & Gilbert’s Mr Andrew Horton examines how the principles of abuse of process could equally be applied to cases involving arbitrations.
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We speak to two rating agencies about their outlooks for Asia.
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Mr Rade Musulin and Mr Sifang Zhang from Aon Benfield’s Rating Agency Advisory Practice in Asia Pacific give an insight into how rating agencies calculate cat risk capital charge in insurers.
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Over the past year, Catalytics Catastrophe Modelling has successfully launched its first two earthquake models in Southeast Asia. Its Director, Mr Adi Hazan, tells us that these models differ in that they are the first to be operating on a fully open commercial platform.
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Most people do not have a health insurance policy in Bangalore and worse, most feel that they do not need one. These are some of the findings of the latest research by two university dons in India.
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Marred by several severe catastrophic events, 2010 has so far been an expensive year for the global reinsurance market. With 1.1.2011 renewals looming and discussions intensifying, we bring you a roundup of what the reinsurers and brokers had to say about Asia at the recent Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous.
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It is a widely known fact that the reinsurance sector has thus far successfully navigated the global credit crisis, having been less impacted than other financial institutions with higher asset leverage, such as banks and life insurers. We bring you a round-up of what the ratings agencies have to say about the reinsurance industry at the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous.
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Insurance energy experts gathered to discuss the various challenges facing the sector today as they exchanged notes on offshore construction market, the Macondo loss and Deepwater losses, risk management, drilling techniques and many others including a panel discussion on Welcar wording. Mr Yann Marmonier of Catlin reports on behalf of the Organising Committee1 at the first Asia Offshore Energy Conference (AOEC) held in Bali.
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Almost 200 attendees from 18 countries gathered in Shanghai for 2010 Connect Asia, the CSC Financial Services conference for Asia, as they examined the current global landscape, looking at new ways to grow and deliver shareholder value. We bring you this report from CSC Financial Services.
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Top underwriters from several of Asia’s most important life insurance companies gathered recently in Singapore and Hong Kong for the “Protection Products: Are We Protected?” seminars, presented by the RGA Reinsurance Company, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.
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Aon Benfield is warning insurers in Asia to prepare for future “supercat” events like those experienced in the US. A supercat event is defined as generating an insured market loss of at least US$10 billion and in Asia, is most likely to occur in Japan, China and South Korea.
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28 jurisdictions from the Asia-Pacific region have adopted recommendations on fighting domestic and international bribery.
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In August this year, Asian Reinsurance Corp conducted a seminar on “Principles and Practice of Reinsurance” in Bangkok attended by some 30 participants from 10 countries across Asia. This seminar was organised as part of Asian Re developmental programme.
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Target Harlosh, an insurance solutions provider, has secured its first Managed Service contract in Australasia with Western Pacific Insurance Ltd, a provider of niche insurance services in New Zealand, Australia and Asia.
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Two in three investors in self managed superannuation funds (SMSF) report using professional advice in the past six months, according to a local newspaper, citing a survey by research house Investment Trends. The survey shows that 65% of those polled have used advisers, up from 61% before the global financial crisis.
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Hong Kong’s Food and Health Bureau has released long-awaited details of a new government-regulated voluntary health insurance scheme that will need 300,000 to 500,000 subscribers to have “a strong degree of sustainability”. The scheme is outlined in a 108-page document titled “My Health, My Choice” which was released in October for a three-month public consultation exercise.
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India’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has held talks with the heads of the country’s central bank, the market and insurance regulators to set up an apex body to co-ordinate the work of the authorities and to oversee large finance companies, according to a government statement.
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Prudential Financial, Inc. has announced that the company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AIG Star Life Insurance Co, Ltd (“Star”) and AIG Edison Life Insurance Co (“Edison”) from AIG, Inc. for a total purchase price of US$4.8 billion.
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Whole life insurance policies, regarded as the most traditional and basic life insurance policy, are bouncing back from a decline over the past few years, according to media reports. Initial premiums for whole life insurance policies from January to July reached 157.2 billion won (US$140 million), representing a 14% increase from the same period a year ago.
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Chedid Re and Price Forbes & Partners announced that they have entered into an association agreement for the insurance and reinsurance placement of upstream and downstream hydrocarbon “Energy” business.
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Philippine cooperative insurance company Coop Life Insurance & Mutual Benefit Services (CLIMBS), together with Munich Re and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), are launching a microinsurance product to protect the loan portfolio of cooperatives against losses from extreme weather events in the Philippines. A core concern is to pass on the benefits to end customers in low-income households.
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London-listed Hardy Underwriting Bermuda, a specialist insurer and reinsurer operating within Lloyd’s of London and Bermuda, will be opening an office in Singapore with underwriting operations to begin in December.
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Dissatisfaction among motorists with auto insurance prices and the cumbersome process of comparing premiums has led a Singapore company to design a convenient one-stop online shop.
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IDIT IDI Technologies Ltd, recently announced the successful go-live of IDIT™ Software Suite at DirectAsia.com, a member of the Whittington Group, in Singapore.
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Taiwan’s life insurers are likely to see their earnings fluctuate over the coming one to two years due to the unstable recovery in global capital markets, according to Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services titled “Taiwan’s Life Insurers Face Operating Volatility Into 2011, But Credit Metrics Are Unlikely To Dip A Second Time” report.
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Thailand’s non-life insurance sector is likely to achieve double-digit growth this year, according to a report by Kasikorn Research. The sector is forecast to collect at least 122.7 billion baht (US$4 billion) in direct premiums this year, a year-on-year increase of 11.5% against 3.5% growth in 2009.
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Resolution has bought AXA UK’s life businesses for £2.75 billion (US$4.34 billion) and will merge this entity with Friends Provident, in its bid to shake up UK’s sluggish life insurance industry. The new business, named Friends Life, aims to be rebranded and marketed from early 2011.
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Hannover Re has contributed €1 million (US$1.38 million) and technical expertise to the creation of the first global open-source earthquake risk model, which will provide a full spectrum of users with uniform information on seismic hazard, seismic risk and the socio-economic impacts of earthquakes.
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Aon Corp has completed its merger of Hewitt Associates Inc with a subsidiary of Aon, creating Aon Hewitt, a leading human capital solutions firm.
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