All articles by Verdict Staff

Cambodia: positioned for growth

Cambodias booming economy and a range of socio-economic factors, including a young and competitive workforce and a rapidly growing middle class, appear to be laying the foundations for a sustainable life insurance industry in the country, according to research by Life Insurance International.

LII 274, August 2012

Manulife Financial strengthens Indonesian focus

Bank Danamon is to offer Manulife Financials insurance and wealth management products to a broader range of customers through its branch network across Indonesia. The initiative is a follow up of the partnership agreement between Manulifes operation in Indonesia and Bank Danamon in October 2011. The products launched through the partnership include life insurance protection as well as investment options, through 14 unit-linked funds

Life expectancy rise prompts Israel to revise insurance rule

Israels Ministry of Finance has reportedly ruled that the life expectancy component of an employee benefit known as managers insurance will no longer be available to under 55-year-olds Managers insurance typically provides a monthly allocation into an insurance fund of 18.3 percent of the employees salary, paid in part by the employer and in part by the employee

Major boost for Indonesian life market

Life insurance coverage in Indonesia is said to have risen by 15.1 percent year-on-year (YOY) in Q1 2012, according to a media report citing the Association of Indonesian Life Insurance Companies (AAJI). The Jakarta Post, reported that this means that the number of Indonesian consumers taking out life insurance coverage reached 52.8m

ABI signals ‘concern’ at EC regulatory proposals

The European Commission (EC) has proposed a package of three legislative proposals to improve consumer protection in financial services that would impact insurers administrative and operational requirements if they become effective In the first place, the ECs is proposing to introduce a new information requirement for the sale of packaged retail investment products (PRIPs) Based on the proposal, the producers of all investment products, including insurers, would have to provide a Key Information Document (KID) for each separate investment created, the standardised format of which should be short and plain-speaking

Solvency II and the risks in Pillar 5

The new regime has three objectives: to protect policyholders, to enhance financial stability, and re-establish a single European market in insurance and reinsurance (“(re)insurance”) It will achieve these objectives by requiring insurers and reinsurers (“(re)insurers”) to comply with a modern set of risk-based capital requirements, and by requiring Europe’s supervisory authorities to supervise their (re)insurers in a more intrusive way than has previously been required under European law.

LII 273, July 2012

June 2012 People Moves

June 2012 people moves

MetLife ‘scores’ with Super Bowl advert

MetLifehas used the Super Bowl in the US to launch an advertising campaign aiming to persuade consumers that obtaining insurance does not have to be complicated The tagline of the campaign is MetLife: I Can Do This, and in the three hours after thead,traffic doubled toMetLife’smobile-phone applications, the company said. Richard Hong, vice president, for global brand, marketing & communication for MetLife, said: Most people know life insurance is essential, but they think the process for getting it is too hard.