In July 2018, news emerged that between 27 June and 4 July, hackers had infiltrated the IT systems of Singapore Health Services (SingHealth), the largest healthcare group in Singapore. The hackers illegally accessed and copied the non-medical personal particulars of 1,495,367 patients to servers hosted overseas. Approximately 159,000 of the affected group, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and several…
Global insurer Chubb has promoted Glen Browne to the role of deputy regional president for Asia-Pacific and division president, southeast Asia. Effective immediately, the role covers the general management of Chubb’s activity in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam as well as any future southeast Asian territories. Mr Browne will be based in Singapore, reporting to Paul McNamee, senior…
Lloyd’s insurer Beazley is expanding its Asian insurance offering via a linkup with Hong Kong-based Pegasus Underwriting for financial lines coverage. Pegasus, a Lloyd’s coverholder, will see its financial lines coverage across professional indemnity, directors and officers, cyber and medical malpractice supported by extra capacity from Beazley. The combination of Pegasus’s market knowledge and regional broking relationships with Beazley’s global…
Singapore-based insurer Etiqa has launched an online platform for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to buy commercial insurance. The Business Owners Super Suite (BOSS) enables SMEs to engage in what Etiqa claims is a wholly automated or ‘straight-through’ purchasing process. Underinsurance and an absence of formal risk management among SMEs is one of the biggest problems in the Asian commercial…
Australia-based specialty insurer POP Insurance has teamed up with Allianz Global Corporate Specialty (AGCS) to launch an insurance product covering merger and acquisition exposure in Asia Pacific. Fusion Specialty M&A MGA, which will be based in Sydney, will provide a number of transactional insurance services including warranty and indemnity (W&I), tax opinion and contingent liability. According to POP and Fusion…
A willingness to experiment and embrace disruption among Asia-Pacific insurers holds the key to the industry’s future, according to a recently released report from consultant EY. Its insurance outlook for 2019 report reveals that both the life and non-life sectors are growing in the region, against a backdrop of weak growth in insurance markets globally. While the life sector has…
Australian insurer QBE is seeking $130m in cost savings in a three-year efficiency programme that will see it sell off its Indonesia, Philippines and Puerto Rico businesses and operate in nine fewer countries. It has also announced a new, simplified structure that will divide its international business into three regional groups – North America, international markets and Australia-Pacific – as…
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) has announced its withdrawal from the Hong Kong Government’s employee compensation (EC) terrorism pool, in a move that will make it the first insurer in Hong Kong to offer EC terrorism coverage directly. The pool was established in the wake of the 2001 terror attack in New York, when worldwide capacity for terrorism coverage was…
Hong Kong-based reinsurer Peak Re has unveiled what it claims is the first reinsurance sidecar transaction in Asia, in news that underlines investor appetite for insurance-based risk as a source of alternative capital. The deal was made via newly formed and Bermuda-based special purpose insurer Lion Rock, which will provide collateralised retrocession for Peak Re’s global property reinsurance risk portfolio…
US insurer AIG has appointed Sachin Shah as the chief executive of its Asia-Pacific general insurance business. Mr Shah, who was formerly the president, chairman and chief executive of MetLife Japan, will take up his new role at the end of December, subject to regulatory approval. He will be based in Singapore and report to AIG’s general insurance CEO Christopher…