The Asian Insurance Congress 2010 was a huge success

Tags: asia/pacific, insurance, it priorities

We hosted the annual IDC Financial Insights' Asian Insurance Congress (AIC) 2010 last Thursday at the Pan Pacific in Singapore. This full day knowledge-centric and networking conference witnessed in excess of 200 managerial to C-level insurance executives and financial technology vendors across the region.

The presentations were both informative and thought-provoking, covering a range of issues -- from the perennial concern over the need to be more customer-centric (for which, we had an excellent session by Kevin Goulding, CEO of Chartis Singapore), to examples on how to utilize innovative IT solutions to reinvent customer relationships (by Paul Robinson, the Insurance Industry Leader from IBM), to discussions on corporate governance and risk mitigation (by Stephen Blasina, SVP and SEA Regional Manager, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies) as regulators across Asia put forth preemptive reforms to tighten the management of insurers.

We also had the opportunity to sit through presentations by Russ Mathews, Director-Consulting, Marketing Analytics at Experian who discussed  about how insurers can  unlock  the benefits from customer segmentation through business analytics; Mabini Juan, the President of Philippine Life Insurance Association Inc (PLIA) on change transformation initiatives; Carl Rajendram, the CEO of Insurance Services Malaysia who talked about how insurers can adopt a more industry intelligent approach to managing fraud; and Martin Bridger, the Managing Director for Liberty Insurance who explored the non-life bancassurance scene and suggested solutions on how the current low penetration ratios can be tackled. Analysts from IDC Financial Insights and guest moderators also chaired four panel discussions at the congress, allowing delegates to raise questions for the panelists.

The event ended with an excellent and engaging session by our ardent supporter and good friend, Tsukasa Makino from the IT & Corporate Planning Department of Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance in Japan. He, together with a colleague, shared with the audience on how Tokio Marine is collaborating with NTT DoCoM to cultivate a "blue-ocean" market using mobile technologies to sell insurance anytime, anywhere, at the customers' convenience.

I personally enjoyed and learnt a great deal from all these presentations, and several of the pointers continue to resonate in my mind after the sessions. We also had coverage from print and TV media, including airtime on the business news on channelnewsasia for some of the speakers and myself. And as with all IDC Financial Insights' events, feedback from the delegates were overwhelmingly positive, as evident from several very encouraging post-event feedback mails and comments I have been receiving.

I want to thank the executives who took time off their hectic schedules to be with us at AIC 2010, congratulate the lucky draw winners once again, and let you all know that we will be dropping a note shortly with the login information to access presentations slides, photos from the event, and sending across your participation certificate. Thank you once again for your involvement and I look forward to welcoming you back to AIC 2011 in August next year! For those of you who could not be at AIC 2010, have a peek at http://www.idc.com.sg/insurecongress/2010/.   

Asia Banking Executives Gather in Phuket to Discuss Risk Management

Tags: banks, insurance, risk management

Last month, 34 banking executives from 11 countries across the region attended the IDC Financial Insights-FICO Asia/Pacific Risk Officer Retreat. We conducted an informal survey, which was spearheaded by two participants, and found some interesting facts and expectations about the tenure of Chief Risk Officers (CROs) in banks.

Let me give a quick run-down:

• On average, CROs have been in their current roles for less than four years.
• The past crisis scaled up everyone's experience tremendously. What they could have gained in five years, they gained in one.
• The demand for risk executives has created a notable dearth of good risk officers in banks.
• A trend of CROs becoming CEOs of financial institutions is expected to emerge in the medium term.

There were snide (but well-meant) commentary about stress tests, Basel 3, modeling, and even the discipline of risk management itself. The discussions also reinforced some notions about the role of risk managers in banks: mainly, that it is a job that requires smarts, business acumen, fortitude, and a grasp of internal and external realities that confront their institutions.

The candid discussions in and outside of the Roundtable also validated our opinions about technology decision-making with regard to risk management. While IT spending in this area will remain high, admittedly, there will be some projects that will be categorized under "risk management," most probably to get immediate management buy-in.

Furthermore, justifications for risk management projects are getting more tactical, just as ROI calculations increasingly get treated differently. Also, technology has matured significantly over the past few quarters and risk officers have a better set of vendors to work with in the year to come. However, finding the right vendor for their organization's needs will continue to be a key challenge. These will find a way into our research agenda in the coming year.

The IDC Financial Insights-FICO Risk Officers' Retreat is designed to be an annual gathering of risk officers to share latest insights about the discipline of risk management, as well as operational benchmarks and best practices discovered in their respective banks. This year's event was held at Cape Sienna in Phuket, Thailand from July 29 to 31 this year. We look forward to continuing these discussions with those who attended and with other FSI executives who couldn't make it but are keen to join in the next gathering.

The retreat also shattered the myth that CROs are too straight-laced and don't have a capacity for humor, as the photos we took during the event show. Check out the photo gallery on the IDC Financial Insights-FICO Asia/Pacific Risk Officers' Retreat Facebook page.

Below: Proof that I was there and doing my job!

 Below: Ample opportunities to network and let our hair down.

What does the Future Hold for the Insurance Industry?

Tags: insurance, it priorities, asia/pacific

While the industry’s resilience was undoubtedly tested during the economic fallout, insurers have nevertheless weathered the economic malaise with immense vigilance and fervor. Although today's global economic climate may still be fraught with unpredictability, profound challenges and changing regulatory landscapes, new business opportunities abound in both matured and emerging insurance markets.

Now is the opportune time for insurers to revolutionize their business strategies and architectures in an effort to steer themselves back to a growth trajectory. Insurers that are staying one step ahead of the competition are those that are able to create a more dynamic business framework via the assistance of technology, take on operational improvement initiatives, explore alternative distribution channels while staying customer-centric, and place more rigor on compliance and risk mitigation techniques, amongst others.

This year, as the world emerges from the global financial upheaval, IDC Financial Insights is taking the opportunity to reconvene the Asian Insurance Congress 2010, a knowledge-centric and networking conference for insurers across this region. This Congress will be the platform for industry executives to engage with prominent thought leaders as they share their views and experiences in building up successful operations in the rapidly growing and diverse insurance markets in the Asia/Pacific region.

Join me at this Congress in Singapore on 26th August to hear industry thought-leaders share their views on:

Hope and Optimism for 2010 and Beyond
- Regulatory Measures: Steering Insurers onto More Stable Ground
- Industry Outlook: A Sneak Peek of Future Opportunities
- Ready for the Upturn: Crafting the Winning Formula for Insurers
- Rethinking Your Business Operating Model
- Embracing a Tech-Savvy Culture: Panacea to Business Sustainability and Efficiency
- Increasingly on the Radar: Corporate Governance and Risk Mitigation
- Beyond Fraud Management 101: Elevating Fraud Detection and Prevention to New Levels

A Corporate Blueprint for Effective Business and Technology Processes
- Core Systems Enhancements: Out with the Old, In with the New?
- Change Transformation Initiatives: Adopting Process Reengineering to Optimize Business Performance
- Streamlining Data Processes: Transforming Noise into Valuable Information
- Adoption of Alternative Technology Delivery Models: Has this Gone Mainstream, or are we still at the Bleeding-Edge of Adoption?
- Alternative Technology Consumption Models: A Case Study

Strategic Approach Toward Fostering Market Sustainability
- Customer Centricity: Your New Age Marketing Tool
- Business Analytics: Unlocking the Benefits from Customer Segmentation
- Ensuring an Effective Agency Channel Management
- Alternative Distribution Channels: Moving to Higher Gear
- Core Fundamentals in Managing Bancassurance Relationships

Growth Opportunities from Alternative Lines
- Micro-insurance: Beyond Social Protection to Bottomline Benefits
- Product Innovation: Positioning your Insurer to Capture Opportunities in Health Insurance

This is definitely an event not to be missed by insurance practitioners and service providers. Attendance is complimentary for professionals from insurance organizations. Do visit http://www.idc.com.sg/insurecongress/2010/ for more information and I look forward to seeing you there!

Microinsurance: Beyond a Positive Social Impact

Tags: insurance, financial services

Of late, microinsurance has been generating increasing interest and momentum here in Asia. For instance, Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) just this week proposed plans to provide microinsurance to a sandwich class of almost a million Taiwanese who hover near the poverty line but do not qualify to receive government subsidies. Incentives such as tax cuts would be offered to insurers to encourage the development of a variety of microinsurance coverage for accident, health and life.

Meanwhile in India, with over 90% of the country’s poor still not covered by microinsurance, insurers are getting into the thick of action. Allianz for example, partnered with Care International (an organization with extensive experience in microfinance) to focus on the provision of insurance for people who live near the coast and work in fishing, agriculture and plantations.

Microinsurance is not just a vital tool in helping to reduce poverty by providing access to financial services and economic development. It is also about extending protection to the excluded population (i.e. the world’s poor), while still being a financially sustainable value proposition for the insurers (provided of course, they have the right administration and management).

Is your company jumping into the microinsurance bandwagon?

What are some principal challenges being encountered? What is the role of technology as a tool to enable microinsurance programs?

I would think that the delivery model to clients would be one issue - in India for instance, the wide dispersal of the microinsurance target population in deep rural areas makes distribution a challenge. To keep distribution cost low, reach prospects and service existing microinsurance clients, these products need to be properly marketed through well established networks, perhaps through leveraging existing microfinance infrastructure.

However, whatever the limitations may be, it seems that microinsurance is fast moving beyond just a social service in Asia...