About this event

The Asia Conference 2018 was a great success with a strong line-up of top management minds and practitioners.

We are  delighted to announce that next year’s Asia Conference (May 2019), will be held in one of the most important economic, financial, commercial, and cultural communication centres in Western China, the city of Chengdu.

If you are interested in being a speaker, sponsor or exhibitor at our Asia Conference in 2019, please contact the event management team.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Registration Thu, 10/05/2018 - 08:00 - 08:40 Registration
Other Thu, 10/05/2018 - 08:40 - 08:45 Chair’s Welcome

Tan Suee Chieh, Conference Chair

Other Thu, 10/05/2018 - 08:45 - 08:50 IFoA Presidential Welcome
Other Thu, 10/05/2018 - 08:50 - 09:10 Welcome from Office of Insurance Commission Thailand

Speaker: Dr Suthiphon Thaveechaiyagarn, Secretary General,

Other Thu, 10/05/2018 - 09:10 - Wed, 10/10/2018 - 09:15 Welcome from Swiss Re Ltd - Conference Premium Platinum Sponsor

 

 

 

The Swiss Re Group is one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, insurance and other forms of insurance-based risk transfer, working to make the world more resilient. It anticipates and manages risk – from natural catastrophes to climate change, from ageing populations to cyber crime. The aim of the Swiss Re Group is to enable society to thrive and progress, creating new opportunities and solutions for its clients. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, where it was founded in 1863, the Swiss Re Group operates through a network of around 80 offices globally. It is organised into three Business Units, each with a distinct strategy and set of objectives contributing to the Group’s overall mission.

 

Plenary session Thu, 10/05/2018 - 09:15 - 10:15 Plenary 1: Risk Management- An Integrated and Proactive Approach

 

The Evolution of Risk Management

1. Evolutionary forces 

Regulatory changes, financial market crisis, technological advancements and increasing stakeholder expectations have forced Risk Management to evolve from a regulatory compliance and model driven technical role to one supporting digital transformation, capital and value management.

2. Aligning risk and capital management: lessons Learned

The alignment of risk, capital and value management is especially challenging under more volatile, risk-based capital (SII, C-ROSS, etc.) and accounting (IFRS 17) regimes.

3. Supporting digital transformation

Digital represents both a threat and an opportunity. Risk can support the transformation of the business while helping to ensure that the major risks are avoided.

4. Blueprint for Enterprise risk management

As a consequence, Risk has evolved a broader mandate, integrated and aligned with Finance, Actuarial and Business and requiring new skills and perspectives.

 

Speaker: Tom Wilson, CRO, Allianz SE

Workshop Thu, 10/05/2018 - 10:45 - 11:35 Workshop A

A1: Best Practice in Managing Participating Business (Life/Health)

Typically participating business falls into two categories - with profits reversionary bonus and cash dividend plans. The level of bonuses would be driven by asset share considerations. In contrast, participating business in Thailand is structured such that policyholders do not participate in underwriting profits, only a share of investment profits.  However, the principles of participating business management would still apply – this presentation would outline best practices in managing participating business and will cover topics around treating customers fairly, pricing and bonus management policies with a focus on how this may apply in Thailand.

 Aiza Benyamin, Actuarial Partners

 

A2: Motor Insurance - Business Strategy Beyond Pricing (GI)

Costing is not pricing.  There are many other considerations when developing a pricing model – management orientation, customer strategy, product strategy, distribution strategy, macroeconomic outlook etc.  An insurance company does not operate in a vacuum – these competitive considerations are equally important in determining an appropriate pricing framework for a Motor detariffication strategy as the actuarial pricing of the underlying product itself.  As such, a successful strategy development requires accessing the collective intelligence of a business involving key stakeholders such as underwriters, claims managers, sales and marketing, administration and intermediaries.  Our experience, however, is that these items are often overlooked.  In this presentation, we explore these broader considerations, with the support of internal and external insights, and consider how companies can develop the right strategy to stay ahead of the curve in a liberalised market.

 Siva Kumar & Choong Hern Ooi, NMG Group

 

A3: Capital Requirement Models for Insurance Companies  (Risk/Capital Management)

During extreme catastrophic events a high number of possibly interdependent claims from different insurance products could be observed. Hence, proper risk management tools are essential to determine the appropriate capital and ensure cash flows stability.

The goal of this paper is twofold: firstly, we determine the appropriate capital requirement model for insurance companies.

Consequently, we compare and observe any similarities or differences between countries in Asia and the West; secondly, by using two risk aggregation models, Hierarchical Risk Aggregation and Vine Copula, we propose a model of mixing copulas to avoid overestimation and underestimation of the capital requirement.

Isaudin Bin Ismali, University of Leicester

 

A4: Rise of the Exponential Actuary (Multi-Practice)

With IFRS 17 as a catalyst, fast evolving cutting-edge technologies means that future actuarial skills will be reshaped. Actuaries in the future will play critical role in insurance value chain. This presentation will be as following:

An overview of the Future of Work for professionals and how that will differ from today's work environment

Address how the Future of Work will impact Actuaries via technology and other disruptors

Go through several examples to illustrate this

 Mehul Dave & Jiang Liu, Deloitte

Workshop Thu, 10/05/2018 - 11:40 - 12:30 Workshop B

B1: Managing the rise of Diabetes: Are we there yet? (Life/Health)

Diabetes prevalence rates continue to increase in Asia, and continues to be one of the greatest challenges to increasing health costs across the region.

What is the life industry doing to ease this burden and improve health outcomes for the population. In this presentation, David will talk about:

The existing landscape, and the crucial need to find solutions in this area
Key success factors for new products including:
           - Distribution
           - Affordability
           - Inclusiveness of the design
           - Rewarding the right behaviours to encourage people to actively manage their condition

David Wright, Pacific Life Re

 

B2: Cyber Risk - Opportunities for Insurers (GI)

From WannaCry to the massive Equifax data breach, 2017 saw an increase in
cyber attacks and data breaches globally. 

As a consequence, cyber insurance – though not a new product in the market – has been receiving increased attention.

How can insurance help business enterprises manage cyber risks?  What role will insurers play in the cyber field?  What are the challenges faced by insurers? 

How can modelling help us understand and quantify the risks? These questions will be answered during this session.

 Xiang Ji, Munich Re & Han Chen, Guy Carpenter

 

B3: Different way of Investing- Introduction of China's ALM Regulation (Investment)

With aim to hamper "roger" investment using insurance fund, and as part of government's total policy of guard system risks, Circ has spent more than two years to research on ways to encouraging liability driven investment practice and good asset and liability management behavior. With several tests and correction, will the new regime encouraging good behavior or just a painting on the wall exercise? Will this change insurance industry investment behavior, or will it spark a full range of regulation evasion action.  After the presentation, we hope to provide an overview about the trend and tendency of Chinese insurance investment. 

 Cynthia Yuan & Lin Du, Sunshine Group

 

B4: Social Media Analytics for Stock Market- An Actuary’s Perspective (Multi-Practice)

The Presentation focuses on actuarial techniques can be applied using the modern data science algorithms to study the influence of social media on the stock market behaviour. 

Outline:

  • Introduction to Social Media Analytics
  • Overview of Data Science and its usage in Social media analytics
  • Classical  thinking with novel techniques :Actuarial techniques and  Algorithms for Social Media Data
  •  Influencers of stock market investment decisions – impact of social media
  • Culmination of Data Science, Stock Market and Social Media data 
  • Case Study –Twitter Feeds for Stock Sentiment Index on Stocks 
  • The Social media Actuary and future of Behaviour Investing 
  •  The Way forward
  • Mahidhara Davangere, Pramartha Investment Partners
Other Thu, 10/05/2018 - 13:40 - 14:40 Topics

Topic 1: Be Brave and Take Control of Our Future

We, actuaries, have been in a very privileged and enviable position. We are constantly rated in the top ten best jobs in the world but is this sustainable? What are the opportunities for actuaries and the impact on future generations of actuaries? What is OUR role to remain relevant in the ever changing global landscape?

In a lively, safe and inclusive session, we invite open dialogue and explore some thought provoking truths about our future.

In the session, we explore:

  • The status quo: the work that we do, how we are perceived by our stakeholders and the evolution of the profession.
  • The issues that we are facing: changing landscape and demand in regulation, business needs, technology and competition.
  • How we behave and the consequences of our behaviours.
  • What we should do now to ensure relevance of the profession in the future.

Kartina Tahir Thomson, Bank of England and IFoA Council Member & Lee Faulkner, IFoA Council Member

 

Topic 2: An Introduction to the International Actuarial Climate Index - an Indian Showcase  
               (Resource and Environment)

The workshop will cover:

Importance of climate change

Why we need a climate change index

Who would be the potential users of this index

Existing work in this area: Which includes International work, Indian work as well as work done by other actuarial bodies

Then we will look at the proposed design for the Indian Actuarial Climate Index

And finally, what will be the next steps

Ritu Kotnala & Shilpi Jain, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and
Mayur Ankolekar, Ankolekar and company

 

Topic 3: Swiss Re Asia Health Protection Gap 2018

Quantitative findings of the Health Protection Gap research across 13 Asian markets

The financial hardships and critical health event that can expose Asian households (degree of vulnerability)

Consumer awareness and perception of this risk

What can (re)insurance industry do to close the Health Protection Gap?

Daisy Ning, Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd

Workshop Thu, 10/05/2018 - 14:50 - 15:40 Workshop C

C1: Mini- Pandemics: more worrying than you think (Life/Health)

Pandemics. Global panic. Death & disease. Economic turmoil.

And while we fear “the big one”, it’s felt to be so extreme that insurers are a little fatalistic about it, and so little action is taken by insurers against such extremes.

In our session we remain similarly fatalistic and ignore the 1:200 meltdown scenario. Instead we consider ‘mini-pandemics’, events occurring every 50-100 years, but having a bigger impact than insurers realise.

We will explore historical events, modelling future events, possible causes & drivers, reinsurance solutions for such mini-pandemics, as well as highlight case studies of direct and indirect consequences for insurers.

 Siao Wearn Leong & Greg Solomon, Willis Towers Watson

 

C2: Making Small Big - Practical Advice in Micro-insurance (GI)

Despite a few success stories, developing markets haven’t reached their full potential yet. How do we change this? The key is distribution. This session will discuss the greatest barriers to accessing risk in new markets – and how to overcome them.

Greater familiarity with emerging markets and emerging risks, a sense of how it has been successful in limited cases worldwide, an understanding of the barriers to be overcome to drive much greater industry growth, and insights about how we might proceed to do so.

Thomas Johansmeyer, Verisk Insurance Solutions & April Li, Travelers Insurance

 

C3: Asian Insurance at the Crossroads: Innovation and Regulator Change (Investment)

The Asian insurance market is at a critical development stage. The take-up of products is growing at an enviable rate, and regimes like Solvency II provide a useful blueprint for regional regulation. Asian insurers are therefore thinking globally for product innovation and regulatory compliance.

As one of the largest global managers of insurance company assets, Aberdeen Standard Investments is in a strong position to support these developments.

Our presentation will survey global trends, and how they relate to Asian insurers using two core topics – the greater emphasis on asset allocation, and why insurers are seeking out increasingly esoteric asset classes.

 James Hughes, Aberdeen Standard Investment

 

C4: Digital Health - Opportunities in Accelerated and Dynamic Underwriting (Multi-Practice)

  • The emergence of digital user engagements on health and lifestyle is generating new insights to customers
  • New data and real-time data is driving changes to Underwriting
  • The power of advanced Imputation Engines in lieu of actual data
  • Health Scoring and Risk Scoring
  • Accelerated Underwriting and Dynamic Underwriting enables new segments, new products and new pricing

Dijhon Thomas, Dacadoo

Plenary session Thu, 10/05/2018 - 16:10 - 17:10 Plenary 2: Creating New Paradigms in the World of Employee Benefits and Healthcare

Why did 75 stars including 20 actuaries from established firms leave to join an employee benefits tech start-up?  Get a behind the scenes look at compelling new roles for actuaries in a new employee benefits paradigm which shifts treatment spend into early detection and disease prevention.

Speaker: Rosaline Chow Koo, CEO CXA Group 

Other Thu, 10/05/2018 - 17:10 - 17:30 New Qualifiers and Volunteers Recognition

Presented by Colin Wilson, Immediate Past President

Networking Thu, 10/05/2018 - 17:30 - 19:00 Conference Networking Drinks and Canape Reception
Plenary session Fri, 11/05/2018 - 08:40 - 09:40 Plenary 3: My Journey and Experiences From Actuary to AIA Group CEO

Keng Hooi will share with his personal experiences and views on the development of the Asian life insurance industry since he first started his career in 1979. Although he began his professional life as an Actuary, Keng Hooi has taken on a number of different leadership positions across a wide variety of business functions including Agency Distribution, Marketing, Investment, Operations and ultimately Chief Executive Officer. In this session, Keng Hooi will talk about his personal experiences through that journey, the leaders who inspired and helped his career progression and personal philosophy on what it takes to become a leader in the Asian life insurance industry.

Speaker: Ng Keng Hooi, AIA Group Chief Executive & President

Workshop Fri, 11/05/2018 - 09:45 - 10:35 Workshop D

D1: IFRS 17 Variable fee Approach vs General Model (Life/IFRS17)

- Brief overview of the latest IASB developments

- Introduction on the measurement model (including non-participating and participating policies), focus putting on         variable fee approach and CSM mechanism

- Introduction on the other topics related (Presentation/ Insurance contract revenue, Reinsurance, Transition etc)

- Expected operational challenges

- Numerical illustrations on the transition to demonstrate the financial impacts.

  Steve Cheung, EY

 

D2: Blockchain: Applications in General Insurance (GI)

1. Introduce the latest developments of block chain applications in the general insurance industry.

2. Discuss the integration of big data, IoT and block chain technology in product development, pricing & underwriting, with actual examples of Agriculture insurance, patent insurance and its integration with ABS (asset backed securities) for Insurtech companies, and community health insurance application.  

3. Discuss the potential use of block chain in insurance securitization through smart contracts with actual examples in the property and commercial liability reinsurance application.

 Yuxiang Lei, CMIG International and Sirius Insurance

 

D3: What keeps management awake under multiple RBC regimes?  (Risk/Capital Management)

The presentation covers the practical experience gained from HK RBC QIS 1 and HK RBC QIS 2 from the perspectives of the insurers and the regulators. We will discuss the issues and the challenges in the strategic asset allocation and product design/mix within the regulatory requirements. We will conclude by drawing a comparison of the regulatory requirements under different regimes such as HK RBC, SG RBC, C-ROSS, Solvency II and ICS.

 Han Chun Chua, Tze-Ping and Florence SH Ng, EY

 

D4: Wearables in insurance: Beyond the hype - what is really happening? (Multi-Practice)

The use of Wearables in insurance has been described as the biggest disruption the industry has to face. Although the initial enthusiasm has now faded, Wearables have impacted the way we think of insurance products.

In this presentation, we make a worldwide review of how Wearables are integrated with actual insurance products and analyse what makes these products successful.

 Mohamed Faye & Shannon Lin, PartnerRe

Plenary session Fri, 11/05/2018 - 11:10 - 12:20 Plenary 4: Leading in the World of Change

Chris Wei, Chairman Aviva Asia FPI and Global Chairman Aviva Digital,

Huynh Thanh Phong, Group CEO Executive Director FWD Group,

Ng Keng Hooi, Group CEO AIA and Tom Wilson, CRO Allianz SE

Workshop Fri, 11/05/2018 - 13:25 - 14:15 Workshop E

 

E1: IFRS17 Investment strategy: Improve results and lower risks in one day (IFRS17)

IFRS 17 is the new financial reporting standard that will have a big impact on the financial results of insurers. More than ever, it is important to also manage the asset side of the balance sheet. We will show the IFRS 17 results for different investment strategies, illustrate that a change in investment strategy can have a positive impact on the results and decrease financial risks at the same time, and we will show how actuarial and investment teams can work together to achieve optimal results.
Dion Heijnen & Mei-Chee Shum , Willis Towers Watson

      

E2: Breaking Boundaries in New Markets: A Risk Management Perspective (Risk/Capital Management)

With low interest rates and aging populations in their home markets, multinational insurance companies have been venturing into uncharted markets overseas. Yet, with great opportunities come great risks (often unpreventable or hidden).

In this presentation, I will outline the key risks faced when entering insurance markets that were in the process of opening up or developing rapidly. Next, I will discuss how we tailored our risk management processes to suit the local markets. Finally, I will highlight potential developments (including advanced analytics) that can help with managing geopolitical and demographic risks. Case studies are focused on India and Southeast Asia.

Eileen Tay, DLI Asia Pacific Pte Ltd

 

E3: Achieving long-term capital efficient growth for insurers  (Investment)

Risk assets such as equities are expected to provide attractive returns over the long-term but can show significant volatility at certain times and are subject to large drawdown events. Protection strategies can be used to mitigate some of the downside risk but often cause a significant performance drag.

We take a closer look at diversified growth strategies which aim to actively allocate between asset classes to provide the benefits of diversification whilst seeking to mitigate against significant downside events.

We discuss the practical problems for insurers seeking to monitor these strategies, including the complex exposures and the appropriate regulatory treatment.

 Simon Richards, Insight Investment
 

E4: Insurtech in Asia -what every actuary needs to know  (Multi-Practice)

InsurTech has been a fancy topic within the insurance industry lately but related discussion usually happen outside the actuarial department.  In our presentation, we will cover the popular InsurTech topic from a few perspectives (and more importantly from the perspective of actuaries), including:

Use of InsurTech in insurance companies
InsurTech hot topics like Internet-of-Things and Blockchain
The InsurTech landscape in the popular Asian markets
Typical business model on InsurTech
Impact or changes to traditional actuarial roles like product development and pricing
Forward looking trends
Other topics that may be of interest

Scott Chow and Philip Jackson, Miliman

Plenary session Fri, 11/05/2018 - 14:45 - 15:45 Plenary 5: Professionalism

Speakers: Derek Cribb, IFoA CEO & Colin Wilson, IFoA Immediate Past President

Other Fri, 11/05/2018 - 15:45 - 16:00 Quality Assurance Scheme Awards

Presenter: Ben Kemp, Director of General Counsel IFoA

Other Fri, 11/05/2018 - 16:00 - 16:15 Chair's Closing Remarks

Tan Suee Chieh, Confrence Chair