APAC re/insurance industry is robust and sustainable, says Hannover Re’s Marx
The re/insurance industry is sustainable and profitable enough to survive in the long run, according to Michael Marx, head of Asia-Pacific for Hannover Re. Picking up on a topic raised in Tuesday’s Deep Dive panel discussion at the Singapore International Reinsurance Conference, he said that although the industry has faced challenges, particularly in Japan, he believes it is resilient.
“The system will be tested but I believe it is a very robust and sustainable system,” he said.
Discussing topics that are high on the agenda in the Asian market, Sven Althoff, member of the executive board for Hannover Re, highlighted agriculture and health insurance.
“Asian jurisdictions have governments trying to increase the insurance density to promote higher penetration in those areas,” he said.
“Without private sector investment this goes onto the government balance sheets; they try to de-risk by bringing the private sector in, and reinsurance pays a crucial role in this.”
Althoff added that in the last couple of years the reinsurance market has experienced significant levels of overcapacity and a deterioration of prices, but he expects to see an improved picture in the January renewals.
“In the last renewals we saw a few areas where prices were moving up again, but only in those areas that have seen losses,” he said.
“We expect that to be a little different this year, with the market moving up on a broader scale.”
Picking up on another hot topic in the re/insurance industry recruitment Althoff said that Hannover Re fares well due to its strong graduate recruitment programme.
“We normally onboard people at a very early stage,” he said.
“Very often we go for graduates rather than employing people from our competitors. The bulk of our colleagues join right after university and we bring them through the ranks.
“It takes a little longer to bring the people up rather than hiring someone who has been in the industry for 20 years already, but it’s a good recipe for bringing fresh blood into our organisation,” he concluded.
