Asia Pacific Life and Health insurance

Life & Health.

Features and key stories

Modern glass office towers rise behind Tokyo Station in warm evening light.

A uniformed inspector examines a treaty notice beside a high-speed train marked AIR.

Nighttime Tokyo cityscape with illuminated Japanese signs, high-rises and curving multilane traffic.

Miniature businesspeople stand and meet among coins beneath wooden blocks spelling “AML.

Portrait of an unnamed APAC chief wearing glasses, set against a city skyline and illuminated bridge.

Tokyo skyline at dusk, featuring the illuminated Tokyo Skytree surrounded by densely packed buildings.

India’s GI direct premium growth returns to 10% in August as health, motor advance

Illustration of healthcare workers and a hospital set against Asia Pacific city skylines

IRDAI proposes new commission caps, lower expense limits as distribution costs outpace premium growth

Hong Kong targets captives, ILS and specialty insurance growth under first five-year plan

Singapore direct GI premiums rebound 11.9% in Q2

Pacific Life Re completes first Hong Kong asset-intensive reinsurance deal

City skyline with skyscrapers and a bridge over a highway.

GIFT City Q1 GWP doubles to US$419m on life and fire reinsurance surge

Insurers urged to treat alternative capital deals as partnerships, not pre-nups

MAS sign on a tan granite building with palm tree reflections and flagpoles.

A person wearing a harness walks along a long suspended rope bridge high above, with a clear blue sky and the AAC 2026 Singapore branding in the bottom-right corner.

Split scene: left shows piles of papers and an old computer; right shows a bright, modern city with greenery and holographic dashboards.

Chariot Re takes on first Japanese liabilities in US$1.6bn MetLife retrocession

The treaty, effective 30 September, covers US dollar whole life and annuity policies and is the Bermuda reinsurer’s fourth since its July 2025 launch.

Japan AIR market braces for stricter regime, not slower growth

Industry experts expect future asset-intensive reinsurance (AIR) growth to hinge on access to third-party capacity, suitable matching assets and demonstrable risk transfer.

Pacific Life Re closes second Japan structured reinsurance deal of 2026

The transaction helps an unnamed major life insurer optimise its economic capital position under Japan’s new Economic Solvency Ratio (ESR) framework.

FWD to reacquire 25% stake in bolttech Insurance Hong Kong for US$20.72m

The proposed transaction is expected to deepen cooperation between the companies across group medical and general insurance, subject to the satisfaction of multiple closing conditions.

Prudential Japan to cut more than 60% of branches after independent probe links JPY6.17bn to staff misconduct

External committee linked sums to 159 current and former staff and 794 customers, and said it found structural failings in sales management, culture, and governance.

Hong Kong brokers face growing pressure over AML due diligence

IA’s actions point to greater scrutiny when onboarding customers.

Generali puts China and India at the centre of its next APAC growth push

APAC chief Rob Leonardi looks to turn a 27.8% jump in premiums into a bigger earnings base.

Prismic to reinsure US$5bn of Prudential Financial's Japanese whole life reserves

The deal takes Prismic's in-force and flow transactions with Prudential to more than US$22bn of USD-denominated liabilities.

India’s GI direct premium growth rebounds to 10% in August as health, motor advance

Health and motor insurance drove the recovery after July’s slowdown, while personal accident rebounded and fire remained under pressure.

Rebuilding APAC's healthcare insurance model

As healthcare affordability reaches a crisis point, APAC markets are exploring more sustainable healthcare insurance ecosystems.

IRDAI proposes commission caps and lower expense limits, rattling insurance stocks

IRDAI found commissions paid to sampled general insurance brokers rose 173% between FY2023 and FY2025, while premiums grew 37%.

Hong Kong targets captives, ILS and specialty insurance growth under first five-year plan

From expanding Hong Kong's influence across the global maritime value chain to developing specialty insurance products for mainland companies going global, the plan outlines an ambitious growth agenda...

Singapore direct GI premiums rebound 11.9% in Q2

Offshore property and engineering drove most of the market's premium growth, but underwriting profit fell 10.9%.

Pacific Life Re completes first Hong Kong AIR deal

Its debut asset-intensive transaction in the market covers whole life liabilities ceded by a pan-Asian insurer

China proposes direct supervision of insurers' shareholders, 1bn yuan capital floor for new entrants

First overhaul of the Insurance Law in more than a decade would also broaden insurers' permitted investments and lift fines to as much as 10 times illegal gains.

GIFT City Q1 premiums rise almost tenfold to US$419m

Reinsurance continued to dominate business though gains were offset by declines in health, personal accident and motor.

Insurers urged to treat alternative capital deals as partnerships, not pre-nups

AAC2026 panellists said reinsurer track record, collateral quality and recapture readiness matter more than price as AIR and FinRe grow across Asia.

MAS eyes AIR guidance, further RBC 2 changes by year-end

RBC 2 adjustments, reinsurance guidance, and stress-testing developments form part of a broader regulatory response to evolving risks.

Amid increasing uncertainty, actuaries urged to 'shape', not just price, risk

Actuaries must move beyond modelling and pricing, (re)insurance executives said at AAC2026, citing gaps exposed by the pandemic, climate volatility and AI

APAC insurers look to bridge AI's reality gap

Regional insurers have proved AI can improve existing processes, but the technology's full promise lies in the harder work of making it core to how they operate.