Indonesia Insurance Up 28%

Premiums in the Indonesian life industry soared by 28% in the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period in 2016, according to latest data released from the Financial Services Authority (OJK). Total premiums reached IDR35.19trn (£2.05bn, €2.36bn, $2.64bn), 28% higher than the same period in 2015, show the OJK figures. 

The pace of growth in the life sector has picked up, as the increase in life premiums in the first quarter of 2016 was 24%, according to local media reports.

Nelly Husnayati, head of inter-relation at Indonesian Life Insurance Association (AAJI), said the premiums accumulated in 2016 reached IDR167trn, an increase of about 30% compared to 2015.

The increase is down to a surge in the number of licensed insurance agents which rose from around 415,000 in 2014 to 543,000 in 2016, data collected by AAJI shows.

AAJI’s executive director Togar Pasaribu said: "Our hope is that this achievement can be maintained until the fourth quarter.”

He revealed that currently less than 5% of the total population of Indonesia have life insurance.

Pasaribu expects that the government’s infrastructure programme, which is focused on developing land outside the Java region, home to the nation’s capital Jakarta, will boost insurance penetration.

In April, PT Prudential Life Assurance, one of Indonesia’s largest life insurance reported total premium income of IDR26.5trn (£1.5bn, €1.78bn, $2bn) from its 3.4 million customers.

The figure was slightly higher than the previous year.

Opportunities And Chaos

Global business leaders view disruptive forces as opportunities and not threats to their business, with 65% of them saying disruption can have a positive effect while 75% are aiming to be the disruptor in their sector according KPMG 2017 Global CEO Outlook survey.

In Asean, it said the percentage recorded is higher with 92% and 83% respectively.

“Disruption has become a fact of life for CEOs and their businesses as they respond to heightened uncertainty,” KPMG global chairman John Veihmeyer said.

“But importantly, most see disruption as an opportunity to transform their business model, develop new products and services, and reshape their business so it is even more successful than ever before. In the face of new challenges and uncertainties, CEOs are feeling the urgency to ‘disrupt and grow,” he added.

KPMG’s survey covers 1,261 CEOs in ten key markets including Australia, China, France, Germany and India, and 11 key industry sectors such as automotive, banking, infrastructure and insurance. The survey was conducted between Feb 21 and April 11, 2017.

Amid heightened uncertainty around the global economic growth, 65% of the world’s business leaders remain confident on the outlook for the next three years, though this is a drop from 80% in 2016, according to KPMG recent survey.

Globally, the professional services firm said majority of the CEOs (69%) remain confident in their own industry’s growth prospects, while 83% are positive about their own businesses’ prospect over the next three years.

Furthermore, 74% of the CEOs view their organisation placing greater emphasis on trust, values and culture in order to sustain its long-term future, which is matched by 72% of CEOs who correlate being a more empathetic organisation with higher earnings.

KPMG’s survey further found that over the next three years, the proportion who are increasing investment in recruitment, will rise to 75%, which suggests that businesses are increasingly looking to hire more specialised talent in the years ahead – such as cognitive technology experts or those with greater insight into geopolitical issues.

Meanwhile, KPMG said the survey revealed that operational risks have risen to become the highest concern for CEOs, followed by risks of emerging technology, reputational/brand risks and strategic risks.

Cyber security, which CEOs ranked as the top risk in 2016, has fallen to fifth position (out of 16) this year, with 42% adequately prepared for a cyber event – up from 25% last year.

However, managing partner of KPMG in Malaysia Datuk Johan Idris pointed out that this perception was recorded before the WannaCry ransomware outbreak in May 2017.

According to the live tracking system at KPMG’s Cyber and Digital Hub in Malaysia, to date, more than 530,000 computers in 150 countries have been affected by WannaCry, and is still expected to increase.

“In actual fact, ransomware attacks are nothing new and this latest incident reinforces the need for business leaders to remain vigilant and avoid complacency when it comes to governance in cyber space.

“We operate in a digital world today where breaches can happen anytime. Complacency will only increase the risks across the business, from operational to reputational, with lasting impacts,” Johan added.

CTOS To Compliment Insurance

CTOS Data Systems Sdn Bhd (CTOS) is poised to incorporate its CTOS Score - individual credits rating - for the convenience of banks and insurance companies in Malaysia.

The credit rating agency said financial and insurance companies will have the advantage of designing their products and services to cater to the needs of consumers and price them differently to offer more and better choices, while increasing profitability based on an individual’s risk profile.

CTOS Holdings group chief executive officer Dennis Martin said, as part of Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) initiatives to liberalise pricing insurance products, consumers will start seeing more flexibility in insurance product pricing.

"At CTOS, we believe there is a big opportunity to better segment customers based on their credit information and credit score. CTOS Score delivers the same characteristics and similar weights as a purpose-built Insurance Score," he said during the CTOS conference in Kuala Lumpur, today.

Martin added the CTOS Score is a three-digit number that represents the creditworthiness of an individual can serve as a credible tool when it comes to determining insurance premium prices based on the perceived risk of consumers.

Having recently launched its CTOS Score in November last year, CTOS said it recorded over one million CTOS Scores have already been generated and used to make better credit decisions.

"This has been strongly adopted amongst leading Malaysian banks as well as other financial institutions," he said.

From July 1, 2017 onwards, the set tariff rates for comprehensive and third-party motor insurance will be gradually withdrawn and premium rates will no longer be regulated as strictly.

Instead, the premiums will be determined by the market and risk profiles and it will be charged based on the assessment of individual risk.

CTOS said the introduction of risk-based pricing, which has been widely used across the globe, utilises statistical techniques to translate information about the insured person and determine their risk profile.

For lower risk clients, insurance companies would then have the opportunity to offer better premiums.

While information about the age and health of the insured person is used for life insurance products, motor insurance tends to use more information.

Liberalising Insurance Malaysia

Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) efforts at liberalising the insurance sector will address the protection gap in the country and increase the insurance and takaful penetration rate to 75% by 2020.

Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM) industry promotion committee chairman Ramzi Toubassy said liberalisation would also help boost insurance sales in the country.

“According to BNM, the overall insurance and takaful penetration rate in Malaysia has ranged between 54% and 56% over the last five years.

“The advances in digital technology, demand and expectation for life insurance products and services will bring about new challenges and demands to a career in life insurance sales. But it will also help increase the penetration rate,” he told reporters after the opening of the 2017 Limra-Loma Operational Strategies Conference in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

He said the Malaysian insurance industry had been undergoing a transformation with implementation of key initiatives under BNM’s Life Insurance and Family Takaful Framework (LIFE Framework), aimed at promoting product innovations, diversification of distribution channels, greater transparency and consumer protection.

Ramzi said the significant developments and regulatory changes taking place in the industry required industry practitioners to move quickly to adapt to the new rules and policies, to re-strategise business models and think of new ways of responding to changing market demands.

He said towards becoming a more matured insurance market, such as that in Hong Kong, Australia and Japan, the association aimed to minimise the number of part-time agents.

“About 70% of insurance agents are currently part-timers. We need to turn them into full-time agents, so that they can fully dedicate themselves to the industry, and provide better services,” he added. 

Ugly Singaporean Bully Elderly Man

A couple involved in a dispute over a table at a hawker centre in Toa Payoh were charged in court on Thursday. Chow Chuin Yee, 45, is accused of using criminal force by using his body to forcefully barge against Ng Ai Hua alias Ivor Ng.

He is also alleged to have behaved in a disorderly manner by pushing some bowls and plates off the table onto the ground. His wife, Tay Puay Leng, 38, was charged with using abusive words on Ng with the intent to cause alarm.

A video that went viral showed a woman, who was dressed in white, shouting at an elderly man, before her male companion shoves the elderly man from behind.

The video, posted on Facebook on April 23, was shared extensively, with netizens expressing disgust at the couple's behaviour. They were arrested by the police on April 25. Their lawyer S. Balamurugan asked for time to make representations. The couple will be back in court on July 12.

If convicted, Tay can be fined up to $5,000 (RM15,400) and/or jailed for up to six months. The maximum penalty for using criminal force is three months' jail and a $1,500 (RM4,600) fine, and for disorderly behaviour, $2,000 (RM7,700) and six months' jail.

Live Feed At Zoo

Visitors at a zoo in eastern China got the shock of their lives on Monday when a group of men suddenly appeared and threw a live donkey into the tiger enclosure, the Modern Express newspaper reported.

The donkey died after about half an hour of being mauled by the tigers at the zoo in Changzhou, Jiangsu province.A witness told the paper that the men, wearing red raincoats, drove up to the enclosure with a truck, pushed the donkey in and then tried to throw a goat in too, but were stopped by visitors and security staff.

A zoo official told the paper that a shareholder involved in a dispute with the zoo was behind the incident.

The shareholder had allegedly arranged for the group of men to take some of the zoo’s animals, including the donkey, out of the zoo to sell them.

But they were stopped by security and then tried to push the animals into the tiger enclosure instead, the official said. Horrified social media users condemned the act and called for more care for animals in zoos.

World Best Positive Thinking Man

Self-proclaimed “future richest man in the world” Zhang Jian was arrested in Indonesia and escorted back to China where he will face legal action.

Zhang, whose real name is Song Miqiu, is believed to be the mastermind behind several get-rich-quick schemes in China, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

The www.ysmwxb.com website of Wu Xin Bi – Zhang’s latest “coin” venture – is now inaccessible and over 5,000 Malaysians with RM17.5mil invested are now left in the lurch, reported Oriental Daily.

Sin Chew Daily reported that according to mainland Chinese media, Chinese police tracked Zhang down with help from their Indonesian counterparts and the Chinese Embassy in the country.

He was brought back to China yesterday.

Chinese police investigations revealed that Zhang had set up a trading company called Yun Shu Mao with other partners in November 2012 as a front for illegal multi-level marketing schemes, involving up to 600mil yuan (RM376.63mil).