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MARINE | Digitalisation In association with Concirrus
Digital acceleration in Asia Asia represents the largest and fastest growing continental economy in the world and the insurance market continues to increase its share of the global marine business through well-established hubs in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Mike Davies, formerly of AXA XL and member of the executive committee at IUMI, recently joined expanding insurtech Concirrus to help lead its expansion into this huge regional market. He provides a snapshot of the challenges facing the region and highlights why a data-driven approach is critical for businesses looking to ensure profitability, operational efficiency and portfolio growth. Gartner’s former head of research, Peter Sondergaard, once said the following about the importance of data analytics: “Information is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine.” In other words, there’s little point in stockpiling vast amounts of data if it cannot be used to drive your business forward. Coinciding with a hardening of the insurance market, the global pandemic has brought about significant challenges and has produced some interesting dynamics relating to broker submissions, underwriters’ assessment, and quote & bind processes. Even before the onset of COVID-19, several insurance companies had withdrawn from the Asia marine insurance The Marine Insurer Nordic & Asia Special Edition | April 2021
market because of volatile results and poor performance. This cycle of shrinking capacity is still in motion. There is good news, however. Marine insurance premiums have increased, and anecdotal feedback indicates that current performance has improved. Marine insurers are well placed to capitalise on the recovery in Asia, which is projected to be faster than the rest of the world. This, in conjunction with the accelerated push to digitalise and still limited insurance capacity, points to a positive recovery for those marine insurers that have the vision and strategy in place to act quickly and maximise this opportunity. Local and regional insurers and brokers are now looking more closely than ever at how to solve their three most pressing challenges - improving profitability, reducing
