World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a USD500 million loan to strengthen Indonesia’s financial and fiscal resilience. The loan will help the country build and strengthen its financial response to natural disasters, climate risks, and health-related shocks. From 2014 to 2018, the central government spent between USD90 million and USD500...
Allianz (China) Insurance Holdings Co., Ltd. (AZCH) has announced it has received approval from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) of the preparatory establishment of Allianz Insurance Asset Management Co., Ltd. (Allianz IAMC). Allianz IAMC is the first wholly foreign-owned insurance asset management company in China approved for...
Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s recently announced in the annual budget that the FDI limit in insurance would be increased from 49 percent to 74 percent. This will enable expansion of the insurance sector, its penetration, its level of competition, and value for customers in terms of better products at...
Howden has announced that it is by forming a strategic partnership and launching an Australian broking operation in association with Steadfast. Howden in Australia will join Steadfast’s network -Australia’s largest general insurance platform -to leverage its scale, strength and access. With plans to launch a broker for Corporate, People Risks...
The Australian Securities and Commodities Commission (ASIC) is warning investors of a rise in imposter bond investment offers. Scammers pretend to be associated with well-known domestic and international financial service firms and offer high yield bond investments to investors. ASIC recently became aware of two such scam operations targeting investors...
The insurance and takaful industry in Malaysia has decided to provide supplementary benefits to affected policy holders in a move to support the government’s call on private and public partnership in managing the increasing cases of COVID-19 patients. “Generally, pandemic-related risks are not covered under any insurance and takaful plans...
Antares Managing Agency Ltd (Antares), the Lloyd’s specialist insurance and reinsurance subsidiary of QIC Global, has announced it has placed Syndicate 1274’s Lloyd’s China operation into run-off. Antares will cease accepting new/renewal business through the Lloyd’s China platform from the 1 March 2021. Going forward, Chinese business will be written...
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India has clarified a recent hike in health insurance premium rates by general and health insurers in a statement. “It is clarified that insurers were permitted to change the base premium upto +/- 5 per cent of originally approved premium rates in order...
In view of the spike in the COVID- 19 cases in Malaysia, the insurance and takaful industry has broadened the eligibility criteria of the COVID-19 Test Fund (CTF) to include all asymptomatic individual or group medical and health insurance, takaful policy and certificate (MHIT) holders in the country. Asymptomatic patients...
The National Bank of Australia (NAB) has announced it has entered into an agreement to sell BNZ Life, its New Zealand life insurance business, to leading New Zealand life insurance provider Partners Life for NZD290 million. The agreement to sell is consistent with NAB’s strategy to focus on its core...
