Magazine

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

Mar 2024

Stars shine at 20th Asia Insurance Industry Awards

Source: Asia Insurance Review | Nov 2016
Some 15 winners were saluted at the 20th Asia Insurance Industry Awards held in conjunction with the 28th East Asia Insurance Congress in Macau

Asia’s insurance industry feted winners from 15 categories at the Asia Insurance Industry Awards (AIIA) gala dinner held in conjunction with the 28th East Asian Insurance Congress in Macau. The AIIA also celebrated its 20th anniversary.
 
   The Fubon Group of Taipei swept two prestigious awards for Life Insurance Company of the Year and General Insurance Company of the Year. Taiwan took a third award with Corporate Risk Manager of the Year coming from Qisda Corporation.
 
   Both India and Hong Kong also saw three winners each. The highest number of award winners came from several regional players based in Singapore including Broker, Reinsurance Broker, Life Reinsurer, and Educational Service Provider.
 
   Mr Toshiaki Egashira who retired from the helm of the MS&AD Insurance Group after an illustrious career spanning more than 40 years was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
 
   This year’s AIIA saw 43 insurers and brokers, risk managers, service providers and industry leaders making it to the prestigious finalist list. The finalists were selected out of close to 400 entries, and 28 of them from nine of the 15 categories were given the opportunity to meet the international panel of judges in the final round of judging.
 
   A secret ballot was cast and the scores were tabulated and audited by KPMG, who was also present at the final judging.
 
   Over the past two decades, the AIIA has seen about 250 nominees emerging as winners from some 10,000 entries.
 
   Hear what the winners had to say about their win. 
 
   Download the Winners booklet and watch video highlights of the awards at http://events.asiainsurancereview.com/asiaawards2016/ 
 
Roll of Honour
Life Insurance Company of the Year – Fubon Life Insurance Co Ltd
General Insurance Company of the Year – Fubon Insurance Co Ltd
General Reinsurer of the Year – Munich Re
Educational Service Provider of the Year – Singapore College of Insurance
Corporate Social Responsibility Award – Tata AIG General Insurance Co Ltd
Corporate Risk Manager of the Year – Mr Danny Lin (QISDA Corporation)
Broker of the Year – Marsh Asia
Lifetime Achievement Award – Mr Toshiaki Egashira
Personality of the Year – Mr G Srinivasan (The New India Assurance Co Ltd)
Reinsurance Broker of the Year – Aon Benfield
Innovation of the Year – MetLife Asia Ltd
Life Reinsurer of the Year – SCOR Global Life
Employer of the Year – RGA
Service Provider of the Year – MDIndia Healthcare Services (TPA) Pvt Ltd
Technology Initiative of the Year – EAB Systems Limited 
 
Innovation of the Year – MetLife Asia Ltd
Q: As a winner, what will you do for the insurance industry? 
Innovation is in the DNA of MetLife and we will continue to innovate to be a champion for women’s health and financial needs across Asia.
 
   Consumers across Asia are facing unprecedented changes in their lives, so they need a trusted partner to help navigate life and guide them toward the best decisions. For example, if a woman who left her province and works independently in another city, faces a health crisis, how does she find the right doctor in the complex medical world, and ensure she is being taken care of? 
 
   Beautiful’ and its value-added services including access to fitness clubs, healthy meal guides and check-up services, enable women to address this question and much more.  MetLife developed this first of its kind product that not only rewards women for improving their health, but is one that is readily usable if they face a health crisis. And we will continue to do so.
 
Q: What you will do to celebrate your win differently?
We are honoured that ‘Beautiful’ won Innovation of the Year at the Asia Insurance Industry Awards 2016, and this energises us. 
 
   300,000 women have purchased ‘Beautiful’ and embraced its value-added services.  We see that once women experience the real, positive impact these services have on their lives, Net Promoter Scores jump from 9 to 50 points higher. 
 
   Our social media film, which outlines how a woman overcomes her physical illness and goes on to lead a fulfilling life through ‘Beautiful’, also garnered 15 million views. It underscores that MetLife can be your “family away from home” and support your health recovery when your family cannot be there, due to geographic and financial barriers. 
 
   These are extraordinary votes of confidence in the ability of ‘Beautiful’ to enhamnce women’s lives.  MetLife is proud to be a champion for women in Asia as we work to extend the ‘Beautiful’ product and value-added services to more women across the Asia region.
Mr Ralph Brunner
SVP – Global Marketing Strategy, Advanced Data Analytics, MetLife
 
 
Service Provider of the Year – MDIndia Healthcare Services (TPA) Pvt Ltd
Q: What you will do to celebrate your win differently?
MDIndians have already been celebrating for the last week now for the Award of the Best Service Provider 2016. 
 
   With the festivities of Deepavali round the corner, the added happiness of being able to prove ourselves once more, has been an icing on the cake. 
 
   The teams have gathered together and had a huge round of applause for each team, as big as 200+ to teams which comprised a single person. 
We have also prayed together for being able to work for the right company, at the right time and with the right vision. 
 
   This year, the team has decided to conduct vaccination camps for children from under-privileged families and have a one-day outing for the kids to the airport to watch airplanes take off with ice cream cones in hand.
 
   Traditional dresses, competitions of painting, rangoli, sweets, jewels and bay decorations have completed our celebrations. 
 
Q: As a winner, what will you do for the insurance industry?
As a winner for the services provided, MDIndia will strive to reach the next level of excellence. 
 
   In the field of underwriting, data analytics for all stakeholders in the Health Insurance Vertical will be our niche, so as to create a healthy environment for competition and optimisation of healthcare across the nation. 
 
   Designing disruptive methods to allow end customers to be able to decide how they customise their health and insurance needs will be our next focus area. 
 
   The Award exerts a motivational impetus to the team to work for the next year, hence proving, “A dream doesn’t become a reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard team work.” 
Dr Geeta Bhardwaj
General Manager – Operations, MDIndia Healthcare Services (TPA) Pvt Ltd, India
 
 
Technology Initiative of the Year – EAB Systems Limited
“We are very proud and honoured to be chosen as the Technology Initiative of the Year, particularly because the Award was judged by no fewer than 30 distinguished members of the insurance industry. This is a great achievement for EAB and I wish to take this opportunity to thank our team for their hard work and our customers for their unwavering support.
 
   As this Award demonstrates, the need for innovative technology that helps today’s increasingly mobile and tech-savvy agents advise and manage their customers, has never been greater.
 
   However, the constant introduction of new devices, frequent updates to operating systems and new distribution channels pose challenges for insurers.
 
   Having worked with so many insurers in the Asia Pacific, we understand the unique needs of the insurance industry and we have a wealth of experience developing and implementing systems for insurers. So we are well-positioned to help them take advantage of the next wave in technological innovation that will strengthen and expand their business.
 
   Our new 121 System that won this Award is a good example. Our customers want a mobile point of sale and sales activity management suite that is available on multiple platforms and accessible even when there is no internet connection. It is also important for them to be able to easily configure the system and set up new insurance products by themselves. So we built our new 121 System from the ground up to cater to these requirements. It is everything that an insurer could wish for and more.
 
   For us at EAB, the Technology Initiative of the Year Award is a reward for our hard work and dedication to create applications that enable our customers to achieve more. On the back of this Award, we hope to empower more insurers and their agents with our new 121 System.”
Mr Nicol Chan
CEO, EAB Systems
 
 
Employee of the Year – RGA
“Employees who are engaged, empowered, curious and inspired can achieve great things. They create better solutions, they propel an organisation’s success, and they challenge traditional ways of thinking. RGA has always understood this, and that is why we are committed to attracting, developing and motivating our talent in Asia and throughout our global operations. 
 
   When we enable our employees to be creative, collaborative insurance professionals and leaders, they directly help the life industry grow and evolve along with the needs of society. Through partnering with our clients to deliver better products to consumers, RGA employees can have an impact on the quality of life for people around the world. 
 
Successful employees will touch people and benefit the industry
At RGA, the work we do supports individuals and families globally, giving consumers security and stability during difficult periods in their lives. That is the purpose underlying the actuarial, underwriting and new product ideas our teams produce. Given RGA’s leadership position in the life reinsurance industry, the more successful our employees are, the more everyone touched by the insurance industry benefits.
 
   RGA views the “Employee of the Year” award not as a sign that our work is done, but as affirmation that we are on the right path, and we will continue to invest in our people and work environments to ensure RGA’s teams remain at the forefront of the industry. Being a great place to work, where employees are given dynamic opportunities to grow and are rewarded for their contributions, is what has made RGA such a great employer and industry leader. 
 
   We will celebrate our win in a way that reflects the values RGA is known for: by using our innovative and collaborative spirit to take our performance to the next level, and partnering with our clients to evolve the industry for the continued improvement in quality of life.”
Mr Andrew Bishop
Chief of Staff, Asian Markets, Regional Head of Human Resources, Asia Pacific Markets, RGA
 
 
Educational Service Provider of the Year – Singapore College of Insurance
“We are honoured and humbled by the win. On behalf of the Singapore College of Insurance, thank you so much, judges, for all the effort that you have put in to select the winners for the night. I would also like to thank my Chairman and my Board of Governors for always standing fully behind us in whatever talent initiatives we put together for the insurance industry. Of course, this Award also goes to my very diligent and dedicated team of staff in SCI. 
 
   We will continue with greater work to be done for the industry after a champagne toast. My team and I will work harder to serve the industry better in the years to come even as the industry is reshaping itself to embrace the emerging megatrends of customer-centric technological innovations, demographic shifts, increased regulation, and increased technical complexities, amongst others. We enjoy what we do, and we are heartened to see the fruits from seeds that were planted in our range of programmes for the industry.”
Ms Karine Kam
Chief Executive, Singapore College of Insurance
 
 
Life Insurance Company of the Year – Fubon Life Insurance Co Ltd
“Fubon Life Insurance Company tries to serve a large number of customers with a wide range of products through a variety of distribution channels. This strategy leads us to achieve economies of scale and economies of scope. We treasure the privilege of serving our stakeholders and we thank the panel of judges and Asia Insurance Review for recognising our efforts for the community.” 
Mr Eric Chien
Vice President, Fubon Life Insurance Co Ltd
 
 
General Insurance Company of the Year – Fubon Insurance Co Ltd
“It is a great honour for Fubon to be recognised twice in this Awards. Operating in such an ever-changing insurance world, we have to meet customers’ expectations, ensure legal compliance and adequate returns to shareholders, and also loss control to help society.” 
Mr Steve Chen
Chairman, Fubon Insurance Co Ltd
 
 
Corporate Risk Manager of the Year – Mr Danny Lin (QISDA Corporation)
“People might think that being a risk manager is a terrible job because they need to handle crisis, loss prevention, and the non-stop lousy procedures. The performance is also never easy to evaluate. But for me, when doing risk management, I take it as a chance to return to society so I always feel blessed.” 
Mr Danny Lin 
Assistant Vice President, Risk Management, QISDA Corporation  
 
 
Broker of the Year – Marsh Asia
“It is a great honour, especially on the 20th Anniversary of the Awards. Thank you to the judges. Thank you to everybody in the room – we are peers, we compete but we are all in the industry together. But mostly thank you to all of the 2,000-plus colleagues of Marsh across Asia, the Award is for them.” 
Mr Paul Wilkins
Chairman & CEO, Greater China Region, Marsh
 
 
Reinsurance Broker of the Year – Aon Benfield
“Aon Benfield will make a commitment that we will continue to not only trade in this part of the world, invest in this part of the world, but to also really focus on young talent to ensure that the future of this industry in this part of the world becomes a global leader.”
Mr Malcolm Steingold
CEO, Asia Pacific, Aon Benfield 
 
 
General Reinsurer of the Year – Munich Re
“Receiving this Award is an incentive for us to try even harder to satisfy our partners throughout the region. Most importantly, we will continue to put our clients at the heart of everything we do. Thank you.” 
Mr Roland Eckl
Chief Executive Asia Pacific, responsible for Japan, India and Australasia, Munich Re
 
 
Life Reinsurer of the Year – SCOR Global Life
“I am both delighted and honoured to accept this Award on behalf of all the staff of SCOR Global Life across Asia. We try to be agile, committed and ambitious. It is a great vote of confidence in what we are doing and we look forward to continuing in the future.” 
Mr Craig Ford
Deputy CEO – SCOR Global Life Asia Pacific and CEO – SCOR Global Life Australia Pty Ltd 
 
 
Personality of the Year – Mr G Srinivasan (The New India Assurance Co Ltd)
“I would like to dedicate this Award to my company, where I have spent 32 of my 37 years in the insurance industry, and to its employees and its customers. I also consider this Award as a recognition of the Indian insurance market. Today, India is a happening place not only in Asia but in the whole world, where there is great potential to be tapped.”
Mr G Srinivasan
Chairman cum Managing Director, The New India Assurance Co Ltd
 
 
Lifetime Achievement Award – Mr Toshiaki Egashira
“This Award has been earned not just by me but also through the efforts of all the management and staff as well as business partners and friends of the Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, with whom I had the privilege to work during my more than 40 years in the industry. With great humility, I accept this Award on their behalf.” 
Mr Toshiaki Egashira
Senior Advisor to the Board Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co Ltd
 
| Print
CAPTCHA image
Enter the code shown above in the box below.

Note that your comment may be edited or removed in the future, and that your comment may appear alongside the original article on websites other than this one.

 

Recent Comments

There are no comments submitted yet. Do you have an interesting opinion? Then be the first to post a comment.