Disaster resilience is a current hot topic in Asia-Pacific

As risk managers consider the implications of recent natural catastrophes, it is clear that disaster resilience is rising up the agenda in the Asia-Pacific region, Andrew Bart, chief executive officer, Asia-Pacific, Crawford & Company, told EAIC Today.

“The magnitude 6.4 Taiwan earthquake in February 2016 stood out for a building collapse that occurred in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan. In a quake-prone country that typically abides by its stringent building codes, the high rise building was found to have had serious construction flaws,” he said.

Disaster preparedness can significantly mitigate the losses from natural catastrophes, he added.

“Natural catastrophe claims handling is hugely challenging, technically, logistically and culturally. We are finding more often that insurers, brokers and risk managers want to talk to us about cat mitigation planning and nomination/programme management. Expertise is finite and an early appointment is always recommended to ensure loss mitigation.”

Crawford’s strategy in the region is to enhance and develop its market-leading position, said Bart.

“We’ll seek to achieve our aims by developing opportunities in specialised services, particularly construction, engineering and marine. Given the economic expansion in the region with attendant infrastructure projects, this trio of specialisms represents a particularly fertile area for growth.”

A second expansion target will be driven by Crawford’s third party administration business, Broadspire, which it is marketing throughout the region in support of corporate insureds with global programmes, as well as captive managers.

“In the latter two cases, we’re already leveraging our global relationships at a regional and local level,” said Bart. “The Crawford cyber risk solution continues to grow and provides a substantial opportunity for us to provide services to insurers, corporates and captives.”

Within the Asian market, Bart is seeing increased demand from insurers for claims providers to innovate throughout the entire supply chain.

“We believe that new markets are opening on a regular basis. Regulators are also developing more complex rules to protect consumers and reduce market risks. Crawford’s shares are traded on the NYSE under the symbols CRDA and CRDB, meaning we are a strong, safe and regulated organisation with an established and experienced management team.

“We are ideally placed to respond to increased regulatory demand and our clients can feel confident in our capability and be assured that we will work with them in pursuit of customer service excellence.”