Asia Pacific Life and Health insurance – (Re)in Asia

Life & Health.

Features and key stories

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.

A cyclist rides down a urban street lined with colorful storefronts and hanging lanterns across the road at dusk/light traffic.

Empty train station platform with boxes and 'In Force' sign, early exit door, and clock.

Person standing on a rocky hillside overlooking a dense city by a blue harbor, with green hills in the foreground and mountains in the distance; Data Insight watermark bottom right.

Hong Kong skyline with skyscrapers and Victoria Harbour, reflecting Asia's HNW insurance race.

Bank Rakyat building in Malaysia with Malaysian flag, related to MNRB's Takaful sale.

Modern office building with blue glass windows and a large EtIqa sign on the roof, featuring a yellow smile beneath the letters.

Two men in dark suits with yellow ties stand in front of a Sun Life Private Wealth backdrop with slogan, posing for a photo at a formal event.

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.

Singapore life new business premiums rise 28.1% in Q2

IP and rider new business jumped after April rule changes, while H1 maturity payouts increased sharply

Asia's life insurers rethink products as surrender trends test customer retention

Policy surrenders have surpassed maturity payouts in India, while Korea has seen cancellations rise 62.7% in early 2026.

Japan life insurers' annualised new business premiums rise 8.1% in fiscal Q4

Annualised premiums grew across both new and in-force business, while investment income rebounded to a new high.

Hong Kong life insurers’ direct new business jumps 51% in Q1

New business premiums reached a record HK$141.13bn (US$18bn) as single-premium business nearly doubled, despite a slight decline in policy issuance.

Asia's HNW insurance race intensifies as insurers compete on scale, service and global reach

As the region's wealthy population expands, insurers are investing in global HNW platforms and bigger underwriting limits while navigating emerging risks from premium financing and portfolio concentra...

MNRB to sell direct takaful arms to Bank Rakyat for US$400m

Malaysian Re's parent will divest Takaful IKHLAS Family and Takaful IKHLAS General to the cooperative bank, and keep its retakaful business.

Health drives China non-life gains, but life fall tips May premiums into decline

Total industry premium income fell 1.5% to CN¥457.83bn (US$67.6bn), the first annual decline of the year.

Maybank to take full control of Etiqa in US$1.2bn Ageas buyout

The billion-dollar deal will be financed through Maybank's internal and external funding and is expected to close in 2026.

"Client globality": Sun Life rewires HNW business into single global platform

Sun Life Private Wealth links Bermuda, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai into one platform as Asia's wealthy spread assets across jurisdictions.