Insurers in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan & Georgia create reinsurance pool: ASN News

A memorandum establishing an international reinsurance facility called Turan was recently signed in the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, according to a ASN News report. According to the announcement, the conference preceding the signing was attended by various heads of insurance companies, as well as representatives of regulators from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Moreover, the […]

South Korea urged to consider insurance-linked securities (ILS) regulatory framework

The government of Korea has been urged to implement and adopt an insurance-linked securities (ILS) regulatory framework to enhance its domestic insurance marketplace and enable access to the capital markets for additional risk capital and reinsurance. Researchers from the Korea Insurance Research Institute (KIRI) have spotted the success countries including Singapore and Hong Kong have […]

Hong Kong government pushes for more ILS and cat bond activity

At a recent event held in the city, speakers representing the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HK SAR) of the People’s Republic of China were keen to promote the development of its insurance-linked securities (ILS) market offering and to attract more catastrophe bond business. With its ILS regulatory regime and ILS grant […]

ADB moots issuing cat bonds, as it proposes CAREC disaster insurance facility

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has drawn up a plan for implementation of a disaster risk insurance facility for the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) countries, for which insurance-linked securities (ILS) would be seen as an important source of reinsurance capacity and it has even mooted issuing them itself. The member countries to the […]

ILS Asia 2023: Education still critical in relatively untapped region

Yesterday’s Artemis ILS Asia 2023 conference marked our first in-person return to Singapore and the Asian region since 2019 and while there are marked differences in the conversation surrounding insurance-linked securities (ILS) and the use of reinsurance capital, it is clear the region remains relatively untapped, on both an investment and risk basis. It has been […]

Alternative reinsurance capital grows to new $100bn high: Aon

Catastrophes and natural disasters in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region amounted to a total economic loss of $80 bn. A substantial protection gap (the difference between total economic losses and what’s covered by insurance) of 86% meant many disaster losses were uninsured, according to Aon’s Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight Report. Contents: APAC Natural Disaster Economic Losses Summary […]

HKEX and BSE Agree to Dual Listing of Stocks

The Hong Kong and Beijing stock exchanges signed a memorandum of understanding to support qualified companies to apply for listing on each other’s markets, opening the door for long-term cooperation between the two stock markets. Under the agreement, qualified companies traded on the Beijing Stock Exchange (BSE) can apply for flotation on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) and […]

86% of catastrophe and natural disaster losses in APAC uninsured in 2022: Aon

Insurance and reinsurance broker Aon’s recently published Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Report: Asia Pacific Insights, identifies global natural disaster and climate trends in the region, highlighting a large protection gap in the region. The report reveals that natural disasters in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region in 2022 caused $80 billion in economic losses, of which […]

China is engaging with Central Asia like never before

Central Asian leaders recently convened in Xi’an to announce an unprecedented number of agreements with China. Deepening ties with Beijing come as other international actors have failed to deliver on investment in the region on the same scale as China.  From the perspective of many Central Asian officials, geography and history are destiny. Sandwiched between […]

Bloomberg: Hong Kong’s catastrophe bond market can reach $2 billion by 2025

Hong Kong’s catastrophe bond market may grow to $2 billion by 2025, accounting for 4-5% of global cat bonds, according to a poll conducted at Bloomberg’s Insurance Forum. Authorities recently extended a grant program in a bid promote the city as a regional hub for insurance-linked securities, a $40 billion market dominated by Bermuda. FULL […]