Seattle:
Milliman Inc, a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, announced the release of its latest report, entitled "Regulatory diversity across Asia," which provides an insightful analysis on current regulations applicable to life insurers across 14 Asian markets.
The different markets are at very different stages of evolution—in general economic, social and demographic terms and in respect of the maturity of their various life insurance industries. Consequently, the insurance regulatory regimes vary significantly across the markets, often making it difficult for insurers to keep track of how the regulations change across the region.
This pioneering report provides an analysis of life insurance regulations in Brunei, mainland China, Hong Kong, India Indonesia,Japan, Malaysi Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
A few key observations from the Asian report include:
-The markets in Asia are still 'rules-based' (as opposed to 'principle-based'). Detailed rules and regulations govern different aspects of the industry.
-Regulators are increasingly looking at areas such as customer protection and meeting policyholders' reasonable expectations (PREs), although these areas are still at a nascent stage in many of the markets.
-There is also an increasing focus on strengthening the governance environment through the Appointed Actuary/Chief Actuary systems and the role of board committees.
-There is a clear trend towards adoption of RBC (Risk Based Capital) regimes and the enhancement of such frameworks, wherever already adopted.