China Taiping Insurance Singapore launches High-Net-Worth product
Infinite Harvest is China Taiping Insurance Singapore’s (“CTPIS”) first product in its Infinite series for the High Net Worth individuals (HNWIs). As a single premium, it is aimed at helping the affluent and HNWIs create a lifetime income- through an enhancement of wealth for legacy or for retirement.
Infinite Harvest Key Benefits:
- One-time premium payment for a lifetime of monthly income starting from the 5th policy anniversary.
- Immediate liquidity with a guaranteed cash value of 80% of the single premium which will increase throughout the policy years.
- 100% capital guaranteed from as early as 10th policy anniversary.
- No Medical check-up is required and is available to anyone between ages 1 and 70.
- A minimum single premium of SGD112,412 for a lifetime monthly payout of SGD400 (refer to CTPIS for full details)
Leaving wealth for Legacy
The parent may transfer Infinite Harvest ownership when the child (life insured) reaches age 18 for the child to continue receiving the regular stream of income for life. When the child eventually passes on, the grandchildren can receive lump sum payout.
Wealth for retirement
Infinite Harvest provides a monthly passive income stream and a lump sum payout to the beneficiary.
Click here for more information on Infinite Harvest.
AIA Singapore is the new title sponsor of Singapore Premier League
Photo from Singapore Premier League
Leading life insurer AIA Singapore has signed a 2-year deal with the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) as the new title sponsor of Singapore’s only professional sports league, which will now be known as the AIA Singapore Premier League (SPL). It will see its logo on the kits of all 9 SPL clubs.
As part of the two-year agreement, AIA Singapore will also be the title sponsor for the AIA Community Shield – an annual affair that kicks off the local football season.
AIA Singapore takes over from last year’s Co-sponsors Great Eastern and Hyundai. AIA is already well-known in global football as the shirt sponsors of English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. The insurer also has David Beckham as its global ambassador.
Singapore: Insurtech firm Axinan launches digital insurance solution for millennials
Singapore- based insurtech firm launches igloo, a mobile app where consumers will be able to buy policies and make claims digitally and seamlessly mobile platform. As one of its first offerings, igloo will introduce the customisable Phone Screen Protection (PSP) plans. For the PSP plans, Axinan has partnered with digital insurer FWD Singapore as the official insurance partner.
Axinan specialises in leveraging big data, actuarial risk management, and machine-learning processes to develop solutions for enterprises. This involves partnering with e-commerce platforms to offer free return shipping policy by incorporating a real-time risk engine that determines the likelihood of returns based on user demographics and shopping behaviour online.
The launch of igloo marks Axinan’s first direct-to-consumer offering- catering to the wide-ranging demands of the everyday consumer.
Singapore: World's first A$ catastrophe bond is Lion City's pioneer ILS
Singapore insurance industry has chalked up several firsts with the inaugural issue of a catastrophe bond.
Insurance Australia Group (IAG) is the sponsor of the bond which is an A$75m ($54m) Series 2019-1 Class A Principal At-Risk Variable Rate Notes due 17 January 2022. This is the first A$-denominated catastrophe bond in the global market.
The issuer is Orchard ILS Pte. Ltd., the first special purpose reinsurance vehicle (SPRV) licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Law firm Rajah & Tann Singapore acted as Singapore counsel to the insurance-linked securities transaction, which has been completed.
The firm's head of insurance & reinsurance practice Mr Simon Goh said in a statement yesterday, “This is an exciting development for Singapore’s ambition to be the hub in Asia for insurance-linked securities (ILS). “The fact that we completed this inaugural ILS transaction within a few weeks demonstrates the efficiency and business-friendly regulatory environment in Singapore. Following this successful transaction, we are optimistic that more issuers will consider coming to Singapore.”
He added that this pioneer catastrophe bond will help broaden Singapore’s capital markets by adding a new asset class and generating a new set of service providers locally. This will be needed to support insurance-linked securities issuances as traction and interest pick up with new deals and possible listings on the Singapore stock exchange for such bonds. Mr Goh, who led the Rajah & Tann team for the deal, is a member of the MAS alternative risk transfer working-group (MAS ART WG) which comprises industry experts.
ILS Grant Scheme
The MAS ART WG formulated recommendations for the ILS Grant Scheme, which was introduced by the MAS in February 2018. The grant scheme funds upfront ILS bond issuance costs and complements a progressive regulatory system that supports the incorporation of a purpose-built reinsurance entity in Singapore to securitise risks, and a tax framework that provides tax neutrality to the reinsurance entity and ILS investors.
For the IAG sponsored bond, Mr Goh and his team helped the client navigate the Singapore legal and regulatory aspects of this ground-breaking deal which also encompassed advising on the qualifying criteria for the ILS Grant Scheme, Qualifying Debt Securities Scheme and the Tax Incentive Scheme for Special Purpose Vehicle engaged in Asset Securitisation Transaction.
By all estimates, ILS is poised for substantial growth. Data from the United Nations’ Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific showed that Asia has accounted for almost half of the world’s economic losses from natural disasters in the last 20 years. Economic losses in Asia Pacific is projected to exceed $160bn annually by 2030. Insurance penetration is still low in the region, with just 8% of natural catastrophe losses insured compared to 40% in developed regions.
AXA reports full-year earnings for 2018
AXA has reported gross revenues have increased 4% from Euro 98.5 billion to 102.9 billion. The underlying earnings went up to 6%, reporting a Euro 6.2 billion, with underlying earnings per share at 3% to Euro 2.48 along with dividend of Euro 1.34 per share – that’s an increase of 6% from FY17, to be proposed by the Board of Directors.
FY18 Key highlights
The 4% increment in total revenues were contributed by the strong growth in all markets.
- Europe (+3%) with higher sales in both Italy and Spain
- France (+3%) due to strong growth in Health and Protection
- AXA XL (+10%)
- United States (+2%)
- Asia (+4%) mostly from Hong Kong and Japan in Protection
- International (+4%) with robust growth mainly in Mexico and Turkey
- Transversal (+3%) from higher volumes at AXA Assistance
APAC banks fear region is at risk for next money laundering breach
The recent Asian money laundering scandals are causing regional banks to fear that they may risk inadvertently facilitating the next money laundering scandal.
The survey conducted by Silicon Valley analytics firm FICO revealed that 62% said that a lack of resources was the biggest reason APAC banks remained exposed. 25% mentioned a lack of expertise while 13% revealed it was political constraints imposed by the government.
Respondents had different opinions on the most effective way to increase money laundering compliance. 19% of banks felt increasing fines and penalties was the most feasible way to improve financial probity, while 40% thought it was necessary to better resource the regulators. The rest of the APAC banks believe the best way to tackle money laundering is through introducing anti-money laundering (AML) solutions that use machine learning.
The findings from the survey also revealed that 40% of APAC banks felt that their AML capabilities were average, while 20% do not know how they might compare to their industry peers. Only 2% said that their AML- readiness made them a recognised top performer in the industry. And 61% were confident that their AML capabilities will be better in 1 years’ time.
To add to the concern, new types of transactions outside of banking are emerging as money laundering risks in the region. APAC banks surveyed rated cryptocurrency (33%), shadow banking (22%) and property transactions (20%) as the biggest risks.
People on the move
AXA Insurance Singapore appoints new members to its Executive Committee
Photo by AXA Insurance
AXA Insurance welcomes Kevin Leong, Juliet Khew and Hayley Yap to their new appointments within the Executive committee.
Kevin Leong has been appointed Managing Director, Commercial Lines, in addition to his current responsibilities as Country Leader, Singapore- Insurance for AXA XL, a division of AXA Group. Having dual-roles would position him to drive development of and synergies in AXA’s commercial lines business across both AXA Insurance and AXA XL in Singapore, reinforcing the One AXA model to bring commercial lines customers a single AXA proposition leveraging the strengths of each division.
Juliet Khew has been promoted to Managing Director, Health, following her previous position as Director, Commercial Health. The newly created Health Strategic Business Unit will play a key role in AXA’s journey to partner its customers in various aspects of their lives. Her responsibilities include driving the continued growth of AXA’s health business and a superior experience for health customers.
Hayley Yap, who succeeds Ms Priya Shahane, will take on the role of Chief People Officer. Ms Priya Shahane moves on to Global Head of Executive Talent Resourcing of AXA group. With over 20 years of experience in human resources, risk and assurance, and strategic business planning and partnering, Hayley was the last Head of Business Execution for South East Asia, India, and Middle East at ANZ. She will continue to drive AXA’s strategic people agenda while aligning to its business objectives for growth.
Allianz Asia names new regional CEO for Property and Casualty business
Allianz has appointed Claudia Salem as its new Chief Executive Office, Property & Casualty for Asia Pacific, effective 1 March.
She will be responsible for the P&L and functional development of Allianz’s property & Casualty business in the region which includes the long-term bancassurance relationship with Standard Chartered Bank.
Based in Singapore, she reports to Allianz Asia Pacific Regional CEO and will serve as a member of the Allianz Asia Pacific Regional Executive Board.
Prior to Allianz, Claudia was from AIG, where she was the Singapore CEO and Head of Southeast Asia. With over 15 years of experience, she has served in various leadership roles across operations management, business development, and customer solutions, with a track record for driving large-scale change management, service delivery and bottom line results.
Mukesh Dhawan appointed CEO of Zurich Takaful Malaysia
Zurich Malaysia has announced the appointment of Mukesh Dhawan as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zurich Takaful Malaysia Berhad. His responsibilities include executing Zurich's strategic priorities to gain a more profitable foothold for its family takaful business in Malaysia. He succeeds Salim Majid Zain, who left the company in January 2019. Mukesh will report to ZTMB's Board of Directors.
With over 18 years of experience in the life insurance industry across the Asia Pacific region, Mukesh is a seasoned industry leader and has helmed various senior management and strategic roles in Accident & Health profit centre management, strategic marketing, product management as well as distribution management in leading organisations such as Prudential Corporation Asia, AIG and AIA. Prior to joining Zurich, he was based in Singapore with the AIA regional team to drive its Premier Agency strategies within the South East Asian markets.
Mukesh joined Zurich Life Insurance Malaysia Berhad (ZLIMB) in January 2015 as the General Manager and Head of Market Management. Over the last 4 years, he has driven profitable growth for Zurich Malaysia’s life insurance and family takaful businesses through the development of unique customer propositions as well as establishment of robust distribution channels and partnerships.