The average balance of payments in Indonesian reinsurance transactions over the past five years has been in a deficit of IDR5.65 trillion (USD455 million) per year. This has been a point of frustration for the Indonesian government. As such, the Indonesia Financial Services Authority (OJK) has instructed insurers to retain more risk and to reinsure more business with domestic reinsurers, including the recently-formed state reinsurer, Indonesia Re, to “improve and optimize capacity in the country.” The OJK has also encouraged all domestic reinsurers to obtain an international rating in order to improve competitiveness with foreign reinsurers. However, it is anticipated that high cessions to other unrated, domestic companies will increase credit risk charges and pressure capital adequacy ratios.

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Other countries, such as the Philippines and Indonesia, have instituted rules that may, conversely, impede the development of a healthy, profitable insurance market. The Indonesian regulator’s recent steps to reduce capital outflows, with a focus on reinsurance premiums ceded to international reinsurers, remain highly debated and will be explored in greater detail later. The Philippines, in addition to a risk-based capital (RBC) framework, has instituted a minimum paid-up capital requirement (starting in 2006 and revised in 2013) that increases every two years and will result in a PHP2 billion (approximately USD44 million) minimum threshold in 2020. This will put minimum capital levels in the Philippines well above those of more developed markets, including Australia, Japan and Singapore. The policy applies uniformly across the industry regardless of premium volume, line of business or geographic scope and therefore its impact is more strongly felt by smaller carriers that will most likely be forced out of the market or into the arms of larger players. The Philippines Insurer and Reinsurer Association (PIRA) has been outspoken against the minimum capital requirement and stated a preference for a standalone RBC metric.

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Asia Pacific is a diverse mix of countries encompassing nearly one-third of the earth’s landmass and more than one half of its population. Given the broad spectrum of economic and regulatory sophistication across the region, the approach to insurance regulation has varied on a country-by-country basis as each regime adapts solvency principles to their own needs and political realities.

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Guy Carpenter today released a new report titled Flood Risk in Asia - A Detailed Study. The report provides an in-depth study of the flood potential in Asia along with the prevention and protection systems in place.

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October 31, 2012: In 2011, Thailand experienced its worst flooding in years, which severely damaged and disrupted manufacturing operations in seven large industrial parks. Due in large part to the significant concentration of insured values in these parks, total insured loss from the 2011 flood is estimated to be in the range of USD15 to USD20 billion. In light of the disproportionate contribution of losses from industrial estates to overall insured loss, Guy Carpenter & Company has developed a database of industrial parks in Asia to help clients better identify and evaluate potential risks in the region.

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