Protection

Underwriting at a Turning Point: Evolution, Efficiency, and Insight in Asia

Underwriting and claims are at a pivotal moment in Asia. As markets mature and expectations around speed, consistency and outcomes rise, insurers are rethinking how decisions are made and how risks are managed in a more complex, fast-evolving environment, driven in part by advances in AI and underwriting and claims-led innovation. Pacific Life Re's Global Chief Underwriting and Claims Officer for Protection Jia Yi Tan sits down with Asia Insurance Review to discuss the topic.

Research & Development

Disability-free life expectancy has fallen with worrying implications for employment and retirement

Are we living longer but in worse health than the previous generation?

Savings & Retirement

Pacific Life Re welcomes the JFSA’s proposed guideline amendments

Pacific Life Re welcomes the JFSA’s proposed guideline amendments...

Underwriting & Claims

Misrepresentation: Why It Happens and What the Industry Can Do About It

Misrepresentation remains one of the most important and misunderstood issues in income protection insurance. Tom Salmon joins a panel of experts with the IPTF to discuss the implications.

Medical Advances

How Advances in Cholesterol Treatment Could Shift Future Mortality Trends

Raised cholesterol is one of the most significant drivers of cardiovascular mortality, along with obesity, raised blood pressure, and high blood sugar. Globally, it causes around 3.6 million deaths each year, which is 6-7% of all deaths. It makes significant contributions to disease in both high- and low-income countries.

Savings & Retirement

Funded Re: A Way Foward

In this paper, we set out our view that the robustness of current regulatory frameworks should remain the primary protection to systemic risk. We provide further perspective on the potential balance sheet inconsistencies highlighted by the PRA and propose targeted refinements to address any remaining risks.

Actuarial

Older people are now expected to live longer post-pandemic than previously forecasted

New forecasts predict that older people in the UK will live longer. Find out Dr Andrew Hunt's perspective on this trend.

Capital Solutions

Balance sheet management can be innovation engine

In this interview Michelle Moloney, EVP Capital Solutions, discusses the role of innovative thinking in asset management.

Medical Advances

Why diabetes matters: An Indian case study

In this case study we look at the 'diabesity epidemic’ epidemic in India and how its impacting trend assumptions.

Savings & Retirement

Measuring Success in Retirement Beyond Account Balances

At the recent IBR Post-Retirement Conference in Sydney Australia, Helena Hayes, Director Individual Retirement, had the opportunity to take part on a panel discussion and reflect on what success in retirement for Australians truly means.

Protection / Medical Advances

Diabetes uncovered: Trends, treatments, and the insurance impact

Diabetes is a major contributor to illness and death. However, with better treatments we explore what this means for patients and their insurability in the years to come.

Medical Advances

The rise of robotic surgery

Robotic surgery isn’t science fiction anymore—it’s shaping the future of healthcare today. But what impact will this have on insurance claims?

Protection / Medical Advances

A new hope for Alzheimer’s

Scientists have developed a new way to tackle the build-up of the protein tau which is a key component in development of Alzheimer’s.

Underwriting & Claims / Protection

Demystifying Income Protection Calculations

In a series of articles Tom Salmon demystifies income protection calculations

Protection

Post-issue sampling: Why life insurers should double down

Post issue sampling is a necessity but is hard work. However, with the introduction of UnderwriteMe's AI Engine, there's a solution at hand to help reduce the manual load of an underwriter.

Savings & Retirement

Funded reinsurance - a reinsurer's perspective

The PRA recently outlined risks it sees in funded reinsurance. In this paper, we share our views, explaining why we believe the PRA’s unbundling proposal is not appropriate and we suggest alternative solutions to address its concerns.

Protection

Bridging the Life Insurance Gap in India

With 22 more years to go, can India achieve its vision of ‘Insurance for All by 2047’ In this landscape, reinsurers emerge as key enablers. By providing risk capacity, innovative solutions, and simplifying customer journeys, they empower the primary insurers to expand coverage, especially in underserved regions. We spoke to Gautham Suresh, Head of Protection, India of Pacific Life Re and Pratap Chawla, Director, Business Development of UnderwriteMe to find out how reinsurers can help bridge the gap.

Underwriting & Claims

Article: (Re)In Asia - APAC insurers race ahead on AI

Nick Gabriele, AVP, Risk, Asia contributes to an article examining the governance surrounding AI

Medical Advances

Research shows 1 in 3 hospital infections involve antimicrobial resistance

Research funded by Pacific Life Re and undertaken by the University of Leicester shows the alarming rate of antimicrobial resistance in hospitals.

Medical Advances

A personalised mRNA vaccine for pancreatic cancer?

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most lethal cancers, even for patients who undergo surgical tumour removal. Could a new personalised vaccine improve outcomes for patients?

Medical Advances

Cancer and Alzheimer’s: A curious inverse relationship

Is there a link between cancer and Alzheimer's? A latest study suggest there is...

Medical Advances

CAR-T cell therapy for neuroblastoma

Examining the potential of CAR-T cell therapy for solid tumours

Protection

Changing regulations an area of opportunity for reinsurers

When asked what opportunities life reinsurers in Asia have, Pacific Life Re's Vasan Errakiah was quick to cite demand for insurance, changing regulations and the adoption of new technologies.

Savings & Retirement

The challenge of forecasting post-pandemic mortality in the Netherlands and UK

Protection

Solving the implementation puzzle of machine learning

Asia Insurance Review spoke to Pacific Life Re's Mr Ong Qian Hao and FWD Group's Ms Fiona Hermans to understand how strategic partnerships can effectively address these challenges and lead to successful outcomes.

Medical Advances

Update on COVID-19 and Long Covid

Read our update on the impact of mortality from COVID-19.

Medical Advances

Lung cancer screening, marginal gains or a game changer?

Lung cancer is often diagnosed at a late stage leading to poor prognosis for the individual. We look at how screening could have an impact.

Underwriting & Claims

From Barrier to Benefit: Rethinking the Future of Underwriting

Underwriting has been going through significant transformation over the last few years and continues to accelerate at an unprecedented pace. Traditionally seen as a barrier, there is now a growing opportunity to position underwriting as a strategic asset.

Protection

Leveraging big data insights in reinsurance

Big data analytics has been instrumental for (re)insurers aiming to boost performance, efficiency, and effectiveness.

Medical Advances

Vital Insights Issue 2

From emerging drugs which battle obesity to a review of the effectiveness of new blood tests both to detect cancer and to help slow down Alzheimer’s, we hope these insights help keep you up to date with the latest in medical research.

Medical Advances

Vaping vs. smoking: what are the risks?

Vaping is generally considered less harmful than smoking, however longer-term risks have not had time to emerge and could prove considerable.

Medical Advances

Gut Check: the concerning rise of bowel cancer among young adults

Despite broadly improving cancer mortality, some types of the disease are increasing in incidence

Protection

Serving the Underserved

Consumer Duty has put increased focus on how much value different customers get from financial products. But how well is the protection industry serving different customer groups? Who are the most underserved groups, and what can the industry do to help serve these groups better?

Underwriting & Claims

The future of underwriting is now... are we ready?

Underwriting processes, practices and philosophies are changing with faster pace than we have ever experienced before.

Medical Advances

Tackling the obesity crisis

A new generation of drugs has now well and truly arrived aiming to improve weight loss. The drugs are heavily touted by celebrities and influencers, despite many of them having no medical need to lose weight. Obesity contributes significantly to some of the most common causes of death including heart disease and cancer, as well as affecting quality of life for millions. In this article we look at these increasingly available drugs offering hope to more people with obesity. We consider their potential to broadly improve health, and their limitations.

Medical Advances

New drug may slow down multiple sclerosis

Scientists successfully conducted early-stage trials which provide hope of a future cure for some of the most severe types of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Medical Advances

Exploring the latest medical advances in cancer detection

The world’s largest conference dedicated to the science and treatment of cancer took place in Chicago in early June. The American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting is a popular forum at which new scientific developments are often revealed.

Medical Advances

Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumour (PitNET)

A recent review by WHO resulted in reclassification of pituitary adenoma as described in the article

Medical Advances

Climate change and its impact on mortality and morbidity

In 2023 we’ve seen soaring temperatures across the globe along with devastating storms and wildfires. Why is our climate changing and what impact is it having?

Medical Advances

Anti-vaccine sentiment increases risk of measles outbreaks

Vaccine technologies have continued to improve greatly in recent years. However, vaccines are little use if people refuse to use them. Here we look at the precarious position of measles, a well-known but little-understood serious condition, which is held in check in most countries only because of high vaccine uptake.

Medical Advances

Vital Insights Issue 1

Welcome to our first edition of Vital Insights. Here we’ve put together a collection of articles covering some of the major issues of the day with a specific focus on how they will impact mortality and morbidity.

Medical Advances

Deep dive: Alzheimer's

Total deaths from dementias in high-income countries have almost quadrupled in the last 20 years, yet so far medical science has very few answers. This article looks at the recent emergence of the first drugs which may be able to modify the effects of this terrifying disease

Medical Advances

New Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccine

COVID-19 has stolen the limelight from other respiratory viruses in recent years. However there are plenty of other common viruses which can have serious health consequences, among them Respiratory Syncytial Virus, or RSV.

Medical Advances

An end in sight for AIDS

A new UN report reveals optimism about a possible end to the global AIDS epidemic

Medical Advances

Does a common sweetener cause cancer

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer research arm of the WHO, recently classified the common sweetener aspartame as a possible cause of cancer in humans.

Protection

Building a sustainable protection market

Beneath the Surface report 2023 We explored some of the key drivers of sustainability for the protection market. We undertook consumer research which combined with our medical and underwriting expertise and our deep understanding of the market, enabled us to create this report.

Protection

Navigating the ocean of Value-Added Services

Beneath the Surface report 2022 In this report, we analyse the current VAS landscape in the UK & Irish protection markets. Look to understand the views and experiences of customers, with the aim of assessing how much value these services are really adding today. Look at what insurers say, and consider what the future might hold for the development of VAS.