Asia Pacific Life and Health insurance

Life & Health.

Features and key stories

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.

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.

Prudential Japan to cut more than 60% of branches after independent probe links ¥6.17bn 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.

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.