One reads about cyber attacks all the time now, yet they continue to surprise us with the unique forms that they can take.
Asian companies are still playing catch-up when it comes to cyber risk management, with many not having the fundamentals in place, said Lloyd’s CEO Inga Beale at the recent Lloyd’s Asia Cyber Risk Seminar held in Singapore.
Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re plans to further strengthen its commitment to Asia by establishing a dedicated regional legal entity in Singapore for its reinsurance business unit. This new entity will, at the same time, become Swiss Re’s regional headquarters for its network of reinsurance operations in Asia.
The Financial Services Council (FSC), which represents the A$44 billion (US$33 billion) life insurance industry, has proposed rules that would encourage large financial institutions to broaden the number of products on their approved product lists (APLs), often used to limit the number of products owned by rivals that their financial advisers can sell to customers.
A pilot crop insurance scheme for Bangladesh’s climatically vulnerable farmers has been oversubscribed and would help the government to decide to introduce the cover nationwide.
The detention of CIRC Chairman Xiang Junbo last month by the Communist Party’s anti-corruption agency is seen as the start of a wider crackdown on graft in the insurance and financial services sectors.
General insurers have renewed over INR1 trillion (US$15.5 billion) worth of policies on 1 April, the time for most renewals by large customers of mega policies, despite increases of 10-30% in premiums for certain categories of corporate cover.
Insurers are still undecided about distributing investment-linked general insurance products because they consider the rules governing such products as unclear, according to Mr Julian Noor, Executive Director of the General Insurance Association of Indonesia (AAUI).
Medical data analytics company Japan Medical Data Centre (JMDC) has won the first-ever business contest held by the Japanese insurance industry, with its smartphone app that instantly measures a person’s “health age”.
The government will, in 2018, draw up mid- and long-term measures to cope with an expected deterioration in the financial health of the country’s key national insurance schemes and major national pension funds, in the face of the country’s rapidly ageing population, the Finance Ministry has said.
The life insurance market, including family takaful, reported stronger profits of MYR13.6 billion (US$3.1 billion) in 2016, 12% higher than the MYR12.1 billion posted in the previous year.
The government’s move to convert the State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) into a public limited company has hit snags for want of parliamentary approval.
Friends Provident International (FPI) intends to strengthen its life offerings this year and sees opportunities in the areas of critical illness as well as short-term savings products, Managing Director for Singapore Andrew Waddell told Asia Insurance Review.
Reinsurance contract certainty. What does that mean? Is it being achieved in Singapore? These are the questions that the Contract Certainty Working Group (CCWG) have been addressing over the past five years.
Specialist Re, a FinTech serving the reinsurance sector based in Labuan, Malaysia, has opened a marketing office in Singapore, its Managing Director Andrew Harris told Asia Insurance Review.
Eight out of the top 10 financial searches in Singapore over the last year were about insurance policies ranging from health and business to housing and cars, revealed Google.
Listed companies in Taiwan have reported exchange losses of NT$133.9 billion (US$4.4 billion) in 2016, of which about NT$122 billion (91%) was posted by insurers, according to the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).
Motor insurers that fail to grant discounts for car owners who install CCTV cameras in their vehicles will face a fine, according to the Office of Insurance Commission (OIC).
Global
An Allianz analysis of 100,000 claims paid out by insurers between 2011 and 2016 from more than 100 countries has revealed that the top causes of liability loss for businesses are defective product/work quality issues, crashes and human error.
The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to help women reduce protection gap, increase risk awareness, and gain better access to insurance.
The global non-life insurance market has experienced strong growth in recent years, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4% between 2011 and 2015 to reach a value of US$2.03 trillion, according to a MarketLine report.
Corporate Risk Management
Southeast Asia sees a heightened risk of terrorism and political violence this year. This is amid an increasingly volatile operating environment for international business, created by a rise in terrorist attacks and populist nationalism in the past year, said Aon’s 2017 Risk Maps which cover political risk, terrorism and political violence.
Cities will need to overhaul their approach to risk management if they are to make their infrastructure more resilient to catastrophic events. While risk management remains a priority for cities, it is not enough on its own, or on an asset-by-asset basis. Increasingly, officials, investors and insurers will need to build resilience within and between infrastructure systems as a complementary approach to address infrastructure risk and uncertainty.
Product Bytes
Events Page
The Insurance Premium Rating Bureau (IPRB – Thailand) was proud to be the host of Insurance Information and Ratemaking Forum of Asia (IIRFA) on 20-21 March 2017 at Chatrium Hotel Riverside Bangkok.