Recent trends in Asian insurance market

In the financial services market, people's needs for the insurance solution are evolving faster than its banking counterpart. Back in the early decades of the 17th century in London, modern insurance business originated from the marine industry. Since then, the nature, categories and coverage of the policies have been undergoing changes in line with the diverse risk perceptions. Technological advancement in international communication and transportation sector has influenced the insurance industry a lot, followed by governmental regulatory frameworks -- mostly in place over the last two decades. Thus, the risk landscape has turned to a new scenario which virtually requires sophisticated approach as well as innovative insurance solutions in managing those risks. Now-a-days, customers prefer tailored-made insurance policies to address the changing needs.
In keeping with the insurance markets of the USA, UK and other advanced countries, the insurers in the Asian markets have also been tweaking and touching up their terms and conditions of the policies so as to provide customers with tailor-made insurance products.
Let us have a look at the current trends in some of the Asian insurance markets.
PHILIPINO TREND: Micro insurance offers a variety of tailored insurance covers for the low income families at a minimal premium cost. It aims to bring the uninsured community under the coverage of insurance. Migrant workers' insurance provides comprehensive coverage for the migrant workers who receive benefits in the events of accidental death, bodily injury and partial and/or total disability, medical evacuation and so on.
A. SRI LANKAN TREND: Increasing number of natural disasters has been plaguing the market. Almost all classes of insurance policies such as fire, motor, marine, miscellaneous, travel, health, title, car etc have successfully been sold through Bancassurance. Online premium payment and online policy underwriting mechanism via agents and brokers have gained enormous success. No direct policy is sold online in the Sri Lankan market.
B. NEPALESE TREND: Corp insurances, livestock insurances, fishery insurances, third party vehicle insurances have been introduced as the need-based products in 2012-2013. Crop and vegetable insurance are introduced in the Nepalese market on the basis of investment made by the farmer in the particular crop, while livestock will be done on the basis of the price of the animal or bird in question. Farmers are to pay premium in installments on the evaluation done by the Department of Agriculture and Livestock Services.
C. INDONESIAN TREND: Credit insurance for both domestic trade credit and bank credit is becoming popular. The main feature includes coverage for credit defaults by buyers and debtors. Micro insurance covers for personal accident, sickness and fire. Main features are simple administration, affordable prices and quick claim payment. The massive low income market is the target of the products. Bancassurance mechanism has been made use of in the following areas: personal accidents, health insurances, property mortgage insurances and consumer goods (gadgets) protection such as laptop, mobile phone. But insurance for internet marketing of products has not yet seen much success in the Indonesian market.
D. INDIAN TREND: Insurance cover for kidnapping, ransom, extortion, cyber security and weather index based insurance products have recently been introduced in the Indian market and seem to be gaining popularity. Bancassurance in India has experienced a remarkable growth rate of 25-30 per cent. The increasing popularity has been observed in bank loan-linked products such as -- home loan, transport loan, industrial loan, educational loan, small loan/micro insurances. Similarly, deposit-linked products such as -- personal accident cover, health cover, package cover (shopkeeper and household policies) have gained market penetration.
At a seminar on "Principles and Practice of Reinsurance" organised by the Asian Reinsurance Corporation held in  Bangkok, Thailand in November 2014, delegates from the aforesaid Asian countries have expressed optimism about their promising market trends.
BANGLADESH TREND: Quite recently, the inclusion of Hajj insurance, micro insurance, healthcare related insurance, travel insurance, need-based takaful insurances in the product line, has contributed notably to boost the insurance market. Insurance experts cherish the optimism that introduction of the following customer-focused insurance products in Bangladesh can definitely make a difference:
l MIGRANT WORKERS' INSURANCE: From 2009 through 2013, a total of 2,459,093 workers left Bangladesh to 159 countries of the world and in return they remitted Tk. 4,647.00 billion.  In the 2013, a total of 56,400 women workers were successfully employed overseas. Experts view that our migrant workers should, without delay, be brought under the coverage of social insurance. As the number of female workers has been increasing, there is the critical need for healthcare services mainly because they scarcely benefit from medical facility while working aboard.
l CROP INSURANCE: Agriculture sector contributed 19 per cent to our GDP (Gross Domestic Products) in 2013. So, it is the insurance protection that can ensure stable contribution of the sector. From unforeseen natural calamities such as -- floods, cyclones, drought etc., crop insurances can protect the farmers a good deal.
l LIVESTOCK INSU-RNCE: Introduction of livestock insurance can be a milestone both for the insurance industry and the farmer community. Livestock insurance may primarily aim at protecting the interests of the owners of the animal firms providing a lump benefit to the policy holder, in case of death of an animal from any of the perils specified in the insurance
policy.
l BANCASSURANCE: This concept has become well recognised as the sales channel for insurance products through establishing business relationship between a bank and an insurance company for utilising bank's sales points and customer bases for selling insurance products to the bank's customers. The concept is new in our market but most popular in India, Pakistan and Malaysia.
l CONSUMER GOODS (GADGETS) INSURANCE: As the number of consumers is increasing, the need for insurance is being felt for these products as well.  
l CYBER SECURITY INSURANCE: According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the financial cost of cyber attack is a risk deserving special notice by the corporate companies.
In fine, as the nature, frequency and severity of risks always change, insurance being a tool for managing risks, needs to be optimised. So, introduction of newly devised customer-focussed insurance products in Bangladesh can boost the growth of the sector as well as benefit the policy holders in a large array of activities.
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