Graham Jones, Senior Vice President

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According to United Nations estimates, 54 percent of the world’s population lives in Eastern, Southern and Southeastern Asia. The region hosts 778 million urban inhabitants and seven out of the world’s top ten most populated cities. The region is also home to every major peril - from cyclone to tsunami - and has experienced some of the world’s largest catastrophes based on economic loss. While there are natural catastrophes all over the world, Asia is a unique confluence of people and perils.

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Cliff Sheng, Partner and Head of Financial Services, Greater China, Oliver Wyman

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Notwithstanding the tremendous scope and opportunity for certain simple products — such as travel insurance and shipping return insurance — in the Chinese insurtech market, several products such as auto insurance and universal life insurance face uncertainties owing to the following four factors:

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Cliff Sheng, Partner and Head of Financial Services, Greater China, Oliver Wyman

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Insurtech is revolutionizing the insurance industry by bringing disruptive products and services to a market that is fast adopting, and increasingly moving toward, an online ecosystem. The market is also seeing a surge in the number of people who are aware of and are starting to understand the benefits of insurance.

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Cliff Sheng, Partner and Head of Financial Services, Greater China, Oliver Wyman

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China’s capital markets aren’t yet mature enough to support financial innovation; meanwhile, existing state-owned financial institutions are not reforming quickly enough. This gap in supply has provided opportunities for Chinese fintech players — who are being supported by rapidly growing online ecosystems and a tech-savvy population — in diverse fields ranging from investing to payments.

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Charles Whitmore, Managing Director

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These trends are likely to support broader product offerings and greater market stability around which the private sector may close the protection gap in EMEA and in other regions:

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Charles Whitmore, Managing Director

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On a global basis, approximately 70 (1) percent of the economic loss caused by natural catastrophe events is not covered by insurance. This gap, the cost of uninsured events, frequently falls on governments through disaster relief, welfare payments and infrastructure repair and rebuilding. The ultimate cost of these responses causes a strain on public balance sheets and an increase in public debt, ultimately burdening taxpayers. The protection gap is increasing in emerging economies especially where the amount of natural catastrophe economic loss covered by insurance dropped from 25 percent in 2002 to approximately eight percent in 2014.

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Guy Carpenter has collaborated with Mercer to survey insurance equity analysts to understand the possible objectives and aspirations of insurance company shareholders. Incorporating or at least considering the views of various stakeholders will be critical for insurers in ensuring that they are moving along the right path, especially in this uncertain environment.

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Aidan Pope, Managing Director

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Not to be outdone, the private sector has demonstrated its commitment to bringing insurance solutions to emerging economies through the industry consortium and venture incubator Blue Marble Microinsurance. Blue Marble’s founding consortium has committed to launching ten microinsurance ventures in the next ten years to deliver risk management solutions to the underserved. Through collaboration with strategic partners, including government and quasi-government entities and innovative technology-enabled platforms, Blue Marble seeks to improve sustainability by expanding the role of insurance in society. These ventures will consider unique distribution methods, local partnerships, product development and impact services.

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Aidan Pope, Managing Director

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Mexico’s risk management strategy has earned a strong reputation in the international community. The World Bank said it is “at the vanguard of initiatives aimed at the development of an integrated disaster risk management framework, including the effective use of risk financing and insurance mechanisms to manage the fiscal risk derived from disasters,” highlighting it as an example for other governments to follow (1).

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Aidan Pope, Managing Director

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The Mexican federal government’s risk management strategy exemplifies a modern, resilient disaster preparedness plan, including pre- and post-event approaches and public-private partnerships. Following the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, the Mexican National Civil Protection System (SINAPROC) was created, establishing a multi-level system to integrate stakeholders from the three levels of government, the private and social sectors, academia and scientific organizations. Its purpose was to provide an institutional framework for the improved coordination of emergency response. Its capacities in the areas of risk assessment, early warning, preparedness and disaster risk financing were developed. As SINAPROC evolved, it added risk reduction practices to shift from a reactive to a preventative, holistic and integrated risk management plan.

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