Asia:Insurance CEOs to connect at Summit on growth and innovation

As the world continues to connect with developments in information technology, efficiencies in scale, and financial innovations driving change, markets - including those in Asia - will converge further and faster. As these changes continue to develop, the support and direction of truly global risk and insurance partners will become increasingly valuable, says Mr Geoffrey Lambrou, who is CEO, Specialty Broking & Operational Excellence, Asia, at Aon.

In a foreword in Aon's Asia Market Review 2018, he says that in recent years, there has been a significant level of focus on innovation, InsureTech and FinTech, and the potentially disruptive impact technological advances could have on the insurance industry. Whilst innovation constantly impacts the insurance industry and that of clients, changes in the insurance industry have been incremental rather than such as those witnessed in the travel, real estate or private transportation sectors, for instance.

He wrote: “Therefore, whilst I expect to see increasingly sophisticated modelling techniques supporting underwriting processes as the industry harnesses the power of big data, I do not foresee any across-the-board disruptive changes to the way we do business in the near term, although we embrace positive innovation for our clients.”

He adds that while there will be concern from underwriters around natural catastrophe exposed risks and default risk in 2018, other classes of business such as Financial Lines and Liability should be largely unaffected as Asia remains significantly less litigious than other parts of the world.The net effect of this is likely to be that the market will be largely unchanged through 2018, with positive client results available for well-managed risks.

He notes that there are a number of areas where significant economic losses continue to be suffered unnecessarily due to insufficient risk transfer strategies. One such area is cyber risk, where clients’ exposures continue to grow exponentially, year on year, whilst buyer behaviour in Asia lags behind that of peers in other geographies. “Given the pace of technological development, adoption, and reliance in key business processes, the impact of these losses will begin to be felt at the most senior levels of organisations if they fail to grasp the significance of these exposures,” he wrote.

Several of these issues raised by Mr Lambrou are set to be discussed at the 18th Asia CEO Insurance Summit to be held in Singapore on 27-28 February.  Organised by Asia Insurance Review, the conference has for its theme, “In search of growth and the pot of gold in Asia”.

Growth comes in multi-coloured forms be it organic or through M&As or through cost cutting. There are several hidden pockets of growth for insurance that can be found in new emerging markets or within sectors in established markets. 

Mr Chris Wei, saluted as Personality of the Year at the Asia Insurance Industry Awards 2017, will deliver the Keynote Address at the Summit. He is Global Chairman, Aviva Digital, Executive Chairman, Aviva Asia & FPI, and his speech will be on the subject, “The role of the CEO in the hyper-connected world”. Several other CEOs, who will also be speaking, will share their experience in the region's insurance sector.

The timetable of the two-day Summit provides for three interactive growth panels which will ignite thinking and debate on market opportunities.

For sponsorship opportunities, please contact:

• Ms Sheela Suppiah   -      sheela@asiainsurancereview.com

To register for participation, please contact:

• Ms Loga    -      loga@asiainsurancereview.com