Company News - 30 March 2018

AMTD jointly hosts Asia Insurance Brokers' Summit and initiates the launch of Asian Insurance Brokers’ Alliance

From March 13th to 14th, AMTD Strategic Capital Group, the largest local insurance broker in Hong Kong and the subsidiary of AMTD Group specializing in insurance brokerage and risk solutions business, and "Asia Insurance Review", the most influential insurance sector magazine in Asia, co-organized the 6th Asia Insurance Brokers' Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Mr. Marcellus Wong, the Vice Chairman of AMTD Group Board of Directors and Vice Chairman on the Advisory Board of L.R. Capital Group, led the AMTD Group representatives to attend the Summit.

Mr. Marcellus Wong, the Vice Chairman of AMTD Group Board of Directors and Vice Chairman on the Advisory Board of L.R. Capital Group, led AMTD Group’s senior management representatives to attend the Summit. The representatives included Ros Lam, AMTD Group Chief Strategy Officer, Philip Yau, Group Chief Financial Officer, Sidney Ku, AMTD Strategic Capital Group CEO and Angie Lin, AMTD Strategic Capital Group Co-CEO

The Asia Insurance Brokers' Summit is a large-scale summit held annually by the Asian insurance industry. Participants in this summit included regulators in Asia such as Central Bank of Malaysia; insurance industry associations such as Japan Insurance Brokers Association, and Singapore Insurance Brokers Association, Malaysian Insurance and Takaful Brokers Association, Islamic Insurance Brokers Association and Insurance Brokers Association of India; insurance brokers such as JLT; Steadfast Group, Australia and New Zealand's largest insurance broker; CIMB Howden, CIMB and Howden’s Malaysian joint venture company; Aon Risk Solutions, one of the largest insurance companies; General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re), and Malaysian insurance company Sterling Group, as well as insurance startups such as fidentiaX, the world's first marketplace for tradable insurance policies; Futuready Insurance Brokers, an online tradable insurance policies market and PolicyStreet, an internet insurance market platform.

In the keynote speech, Mr. Marcellus Wong, the Vice Chairman of AMTD Group Board of Directors, initiated the launch of Asian Insurance Brokers’ Alliance (AIBA), to consolidate capabilities and share resources to jointly plan for a better development of the Asian insurance brokerage industry

During this summit, Mr. Marcellus Wong, as the keynote speaker, gave a speech on the development trend of the Asian insurance industry, and had in-depth discussions on site with Jeremy Lee Eng Huat, Director of Consumer and Market Behavior of Central Bank of Malaysia, and Robert Kelly, the Managing Director and CEO of the Steadfast Group, the largest listed insurance brokerage group in Australia.

In the keynote speech Mr. Marcellus Wong addressed: "In the current highly dispersed and competitive environment, integrating resources and increasing cooperation are inevitable for the Asian corporate insurance brokerage industry. Some large insurance brokerage groups rooted in Asia will stand out. For groups with further global expansion plan, it will be crucial to expand the international business network to provide global risk solutions and achieve geographical diversity and economies of scale."

In response to the development of insurTech, Mr. Marcellus Wong pointed out that "InsurTech has started a new business field. Under-serviced SMEs, new insurance types and more efficient operations are the areas with valuable development opportunities. Insurance brokers in the new situation must fully and accurately utilize the power of technology, proactively develop and grasp first-mover opportunities.” In the end, Mr. Marcellus Wong proposed the concept of “Asian Insurance Brokers’ Alliance (AIBA)”. He said: “We initiated the launch of the Asian Insurance Brokers’ Alliance (AIBA) to consolidate capabilities and share resources to jointly plan for a better development of the Asian insurance brokerage industry.”

Marcellus Wong, Vice Chairman of AMTD Group Board of Directors (the second from left); Robert Kelly, Managing Director and CEO of Australia’s largest listed insurance brokerage group Steadfast Group(the first from left); Y.M Raja Zailan Putra, the Chairman of Malaysian Insurance and Takaful Brokers Association (MITBA) (the third from left), and Sivam Subramaniam, the editor-in-chief of Asia Insurance Review (the fourth from left)

Under the theme of “The Digital Savvy Broker: Finding a Secure Sustainable Niche in the Future of Insurance”, the summit aims to explore a way for the insurance brokerage industry to achieve stable and sustainable development through digital empowerment in current environment in which the industry is generally exposed to external competitions and changes in technology. The conference invited multiple heavyweight speakers to attend. In addition to the keynote speakers mentioned above, other speakers include Y.M Raja Zailan Putra, Chairman of the Malaysian Insurance and Takaful Brokers Association (MITBA); Abdul Halim Jantan, CEO of Sterling Insurance Brokers; Michael Leong, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Malaysia Deputy Chairman and Director; Wilson Beh, Co-Founder and COO of Policy Street; Eddy Hon Poh Keong, Head and Executive Director of CIMB Howden Group Malaysia; Sendy, CEO of Futuready Insurance Brokers; Pearly Wong, MPI Generali Insurans Berhad Malaysia Brokerage Business General Manager; Regine Lai, Managing Director of Insurance Republic; Sidney Ku, AMTD Strategic Capital Group CEO and Angie Lin, AMTD Strategic Capital Group Co-CEO, etc.

As a joint organizer of this summit, AMTD together with Asian Insurance Review held an luncheon on the same day of the summit and a reception and dinner after the meeting. Leaders of the major insurance institutions in the industry were invited to attend for a brainstorming session and in-depth dialogue focusing on the important issues of the insurance industry in Asia.

AMTD Strategic Capital Group is a leading Hong Kong-based corporate insurance brokerage company, which provides one-stop professional risk solutions and corporate insurance brokerage services for Hong Kong blue-chip companies’ and Chinese corporates’ cross-border transactions and international development. As a leading insurance brokerage and risk solutions platform headquartered in Hong Kong with a network across Asia and the world, AMTD Strategic Capital Group is always committed to cooperate with the industry and constantly injects new vitality for the industry through the full support of the industry's top activities such as the Asia Insurance Brokers’ Summit to jointly create a new layout of the Asian insurance industry.