Round-up of the latest news and developments from the Asian insurance market with stories from Scor, Pacific Life Re, Markel and more.
Scor partners with wearable tech firm on health insights
Scor Global Life, the international life and health subsidiary of French reinsurer Scor, has partnered with wearable technology provider Garmin Health in Asia Pacific to improve its underwriting insights and promote better lifestyle choices for consumers.
Through this collaboration Scor intends to enhance its Biological Age Model (BAM), which was launched last year, by analysing health metrics generated by Garmin wearables.
BAM offers policyholders whose biological age is lower than their chronological age incentives such as premium discounts, health and wellness coaching, and rewards.
Scor explained that the partnership with Garmin would allow it to build a more accurate assessment of an individual’s biological age, minimising their risk and purchase cycles while delivering competitive pricing.
Vincent Lepez, Asia-Pacific deputy CEO at Scor Global Life commented: “We are excited about the Garmin collaboration as it underscores the real value of BAM by a leader in the wearables industry,”
“We are starting the year strong with two project launches, one in China (JD China) and one in Malaysia (Hong Leong Assurance), and we will be continuing this momentum in the coming months by bringing more BAM and Garmin products into several markets across the region. Our unwavering commitment to enhancing BAM mirrors our passion to help people lead healthier lives.”
Joern Watzke, director global business development at Garmin Health, added: “Combining the health data from Garmin wearables with the analytical capabilities of BAM creates a powerful solution for both insurance companies and their customers.”
Pacific Life Re hires Gill as managing director of Asia & Australia units
Pacific Life Re has appointed Andrew Gill as managing director of its Asia and Australia business units, succeeding Alex King.
Gill has been the managing director of Pacific Life Re's Australia business unit since January 2015 and serves as a member of the company’s global executive team.
Under his leadership, the Australian office has grown rapidly to become a leading reinsurer with premium revenue in excess of US$400mn.
Gill is a qualified actuary with almost 20 years of experience in Australia and a number of worldwide locations. He has worked in the life reinsurance market for over 15 years.
King, who has been managing director at Pacific Life Re since September 2013, helped the reinsurer expand its footprint in Asia with the opening of a branch office in South Korea and a representative office in China.
Markel hires trade credit underwriter in Dubai
Markel International has named Ramzi El Kadi as underwriter within its trade credit, political risk and surety operation in Dubai.
El Kadi worked in the trade credit insurance industry for five years, most recently serving as credit risk underwriter at Coface in Dubai.
El Kadi will report to Leroy Almeida, head of Markel’s Middle East operations and will assist with business development across the Gulf and North African regions, as well as being part of the global trade credit, political risk and surety network.
Commenting on the appointment, Ewa Rose, managing director of Markel’s trade credit, political risk and surety business said: “Ramzi’s appointment reflects Markel’s continuing investment in our product lines on a global basis. We see significant opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa regions. Ramzi’s broad underwriting experience will be a great asset to our organisation and we are delighted to have him on board.”
Almeida shared: “2018 was a hugely successful year for the team, which saw a substantial growth in our business portfolio, as well as the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Etihad Credit Insurance. With strong and growing connections in the industry regionally, Ramzi will be part of the continued success of our business.”
Liberty General Insurance promotes Sampat as senior talent advisor, global regional market
Liberty General Insurance has promoted Jayesh Sampat to senior talent advisor for global regional markets - east within the Liberty Mutual Insurance Group.
As senior talent advisor, Sampat will provide one point of contact for talent and strategic consultation for the GRM east region that consists of; Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, China and Russia.
He will report to Jennifer Ughetta, chief talent officer at Liberty Mutual.
Howden acquires strategic stake in specialist Malaysian broker
Howden is buying a strategic stake in Malene Insurance Brokers, a leading Malaysian independent niche broker in the energy and power sector, according to reports.
Malene will reportedly join Howden’s other Malaysian business, CIMB Howden Insurance Brokers, and combine under one common locally incorporated holding company called HBG Malaysia.
Goh Chye Huat, Howden Asia CEO said: “The past nine months have been transformational for Howden Asia,”
“Howden’s growth strategy has always been focused on becoming leaders in the specialist lines and markets that we choose to operate in.”
Additionally, HBG Malaysia has agreed to purchase the remaining 51 percent of shares in CIMB Howden that were held by CIMB Group Holdings’s subsidiary, CIG.
Both CIMB Howden and Malene will rebrand as ‘Howden’ with CIMB Howden Insurance Brokers being renamed Howden Insurance Brokers and Malene Insurance Brokers being renamed as Howden Takaful Brokers.
Together, they will be the second largest broker multinational broker in Malaysia.
Jose Manuel Gonzalez, CEO of Howden Broking Group said: “Investing in the right partners in Asia is a key priority for Howden as we continue to broaden our distribution of specialist solutions for clients,”
“By partnering with Malene, we build on Howden’s existing Islamic finance expertise in the Middle East and move closer towards building a leading global takaful capability.”
Chubb appoints compliance director for Indonesia
Chubb has named Budi Tatawidjaja as compliance director of its Indonesian venture, PT Chubb General Insurance Indonesia.
In his new role, Tatawidjaja will oversee regulatory matters of the organisation's business, ensuring best practices and adherence of Chubb's compliance and regulatory policies and procedures.
Tatawidjaja will be part of the board of directors and report to Tai-Kuan Ly, the insurer’s country president.
Tatawidjaja joined Chubb in 2013. He has over 20 years of experience in the banking, capital market, and insurance industries of both Indonesia and Hong Kong, where he conducted audits and implemented various compliance, regulatory and risk management programs.
Commenting on the appointment Ly shared: “We are delighted to have Budi join our board,”
“He has played an instrumental role in strengthening our risk and compliance function over the years. His expertise and experience will ensure we continue to sustain a high level of corporate governance that is commensurate with our reputation.”
