Lawrence Wong ,minister for finance and deputy chairman of Monetary Authority of Singapore
“We have also introduced a grant scheme to reduce issuance costs. Over the past 3 years, 18 ILS have been issued in Singapore. These cover a range of natural catastrophes across Asia and Australia, including typhoons, floods and storms,” he said while delivering the official keynote address at the virtually held three-day 17th SIRC on Monday with a theme “Reinsurance: Quo Vadis?
Singapore:
Lawrence Wong ,minister for finance and deputy chairman of Monetary Authority of Singapore said Singapore is pushing hard to support the development of insurance-linked securities(ILS) in Asia Pacific, through a sound regulatory and legal regime, and a growing base and expertise of ILS service providers.
“We have also introduced a grant scheme to reduce issuance costs. Over the past 3 years, 18 ILS have been issued in Singapore. These cover a range of natural catastrophes across Asia and Australia, including typhoons, floods and storms,” he said while delivering the official keynote address at the virtually held three-day 17th SIRC on Monday with a theme “Reinsurance: Quo Vadis?
Singapore has also supported the first Asian sovereign catastrophe bond covering earthquake and typhoon risks in the Philippines, which was listed on the Singapore Exchange, he said.
A range of specialist insurers in Singapore including Munich Re Syndicate, Liberty Specialty and Swiss Re provide insurance solutions for renewable energy generation facilities, green equipment, energy storage systems and technologies, he added.
According to him, the insurance industry can support the region’s economies in seizing opportunities in Asia in two transformative areas –climate change and digitalisation.
The future of climate change will be won or lost in Asia. Climate change poses short and long term existential, economic and social risks to the region. Asia accounts for more than 50% of global greenhouse gas emissions, he opined..
The region is also disproportionately exposed to the physical impact of climate change, enduring the highest disaster fatalities globally.This is significant for Asia, where emerging economies make up half of the top ten countries most impacted by climate risk. In fact, up to 27% of Asia’s GDP could potentially be threatened by climate risk before 2050, Climate change will exacerbate the frequency and intensity of natural catastrophes, and widen the natural catastrophe protection gap.
The region is also disproportionately exposed to the physical impact of climate change, enduring the highest disaster fatalities globally.This is significant for Asia, where emerging economies make up half of the top ten countries most impacted by climate risk. In fact, up to 27% of Asia’s GDP could potentially be threatened by climate risk before 2050, Climate change will exacerbate the frequency and intensity of natural catastrophes, and widen the natural catastrophe protection gap.
In the first half of this year, Asia accounted for 55 of the 163 natural disasters globally, resulting in US$24 billion5
in economic losses.
So, the insurance industry will need to work systematically with policymakers as they respond to climate change. Insurers can support climate risk mitigation and adaptation measures, and cutting greenhouse gas emissions and transiting to a low carbon economy.
Importantly, insurers can also use your influence and voice as an investor, in service of the climate transition. The insurance industry has total assets under management of about US$35 trillion and is in a good position to channel greater capital flows towards climate resilient and lower carbon assets, he suggested..
“I’m encouraged to see that insurers are increasingly partnering with InsurTechs in the region to support their digital, data and technology ambitions. Over the past five years, nearly US$4 billion has been invested in InsurTechs, and there are at least 335 InsurTechs in Asia Pacific.. We are home to over 40 innovation labs by global financial institutions, including 10 by insurers. We also have one of the region’s largest concentrations of InsurTechs, at 80 firms,” he said..
Last year,InsurTech investments in Singapore nearly quadrupled to US$95 million
million.13