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IAN Exclusive. Marsh’s former growth and strategy leader for finpro in Hong Kong and Macau, Pal Tang, is set to join Aon on Monday in a regional role, InsuranceAsia News reported exclusively. 

Leadership switch. In heavyweight moves this week, Chubb snapped up AIG regional president Chris Colahan as head of APAC for its commercial P&C business, while AIG announced the appointment of Everest Insurance’s Scott Leney as his successor. 

Opening up. After years of false starts and dithering, India has finally allowed 100% foreign ownership of insurers.

The move is likely to be a driver for deals and consolidation in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

For most international players, India will be a priority market, and there will be some deals, and many participants with a minority interest will be pushing to get themselves into a majority position, ideally a significant majority. 

Lower barriers. Vietnam has given the nod for the removal and simplification of many ex-ante regulatory requirements for (re)insurers and market participants, as part of its newly amended law for insurance businesses. 

The law also introduces a clear roadmap for transitioning to risk-based capital requirements. 

Cat losses. Insured losses from natural catastrophe again have surpassed the US$100 billion mark for the sixth consecutive year, mainly driven by the unprecedented Los Angeles wildfire loss record in the first quarter of 2025 and SCS, according to Swiss Re Institute.  

Overall, at US$107 billion, total insured losses in 2025 is 24% lower than the US$141 billion recorded in 2024. 

New capacity. Former XL Catlin and Sirius Point executive Bobby Heerasing has launched a new APAC-focused MGA with the backing of Convex and Efinity. 

The new MGA, which was flagged by this newsletter last week, will be known as Prism and will have its headquarters in Singapore and an operation in Hong Kong. 

Meanwhile, Rainmaker Group-owned MGA XS Global has launched its APAC operations in Hong Kong. Led by former AIG exec Steve Barnett, XS Global Asia Pacific was granted a license in Hong Kong in July, with Lloyds coverholder status approved in August. 

Transformative times

And just like that, we’ve hit the final Full Capacity of the year – before the festive frenzy takes over. Well, maybe not for the reinsurance world, which is still racing toward the 1.1 renewals.

Word in the market? They’re running later than usual.

It’s been a transformative year for (re)insurance industry on the whole.

The once rock-hard market has softened, even as reinsurers continue posting stellar results – combined ratios dipping into the high 70s and low 80s. After years of turbulence, the sector finally seems to be breathing a little easier.

Catastrophes may have been relatively tame overall, but the year still packed a punch. From the early LA wildfire to the record-smashing Hurricane Melissa rolling through the Caribbean.

Asia wasn’t spared either: the Myanmar earthquake rattled nerves across the region, unprecedented wildfires hit South Korea and Japan, and late-year floods devastated parts of Southeast and South Asia.

But 2025 reminded us that not all crises are natural. The Air India crash and the tragic Hong Kong housing estate fire turned global attention to the human side of risk – and the industry that stands behind rebuilding lives and economies.

Deals dominated headlines, too. Sompo’s bold grab of Aspen Re set the tone, DB Insurance entered the US specialty market with Fortegra, and whispers of an AIG–Chubb mega-merger have the market buzzing.

M&A momentum hasn’t just picked up – it’s accelerating into the new year.

Closer to home, 2025 was the year MGAs truly came of age in Asia, with new launches multiplying across the region.

And let’s not forget the tech revolution. AI stopped being just a talking point and started reshaping business.

Just this Friday, AIG announced a Lloyd’s special purpose vehicle with Amwins, Blackstone, and Palantir – a next-gen structure leveraging GenAI for portfolio underwriting. That’s not just innovation, it could be the blueprint for what’s coming.

So yes, the market may be soft, and balance sheets brimming with capital, but with investors happy and margins strong, perhaps now’s the moment for the industry to double down on innovation – across technology, products, modelling, and distribution.

Because if the past few years were about rebuilding, 2026 and beyond could be the time for insurance to reinvent itself.

People moves

Howden has been on a hiring spree this week, building out its financial lines teams with notable hires, including Aon’s Xianwei Lee and Marsh’s Eugene Lim in Singapore. It also hired Sheen Fraser in the carrier management team.

Sompo Hong Kong expanded its marine team with Clara Yip.

Meanwhile, Sedgwick added Cory Chow as managing director of Asia global specialty marine.

Do check out our weekly people move round-up to stay up to speed on the most important appointments in the region.

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Legal update. Guy Carpenter won a lawsuit against ex-employees Celeste Choi and Dominic Lee, who diverted client Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance to South Korean broker LK Re. The Singapore High Court found the pair and LK Re conspired to lure SFMI’s business, costing Guy Carpenter at least US$1.3 million in lost brokerage revenue.  

M&A news. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has blocked IAG’s proposed acquisition of the insurance business of Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia, citing concerns it would substantially reduce competition in the state’s motor vehicle and home and contents insurance markets.  

Japanese insurer Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (MSI) has acquired at least a 12.5% stake in US insurer WR Berkley, making it the company’s second-largest shareholder. MSI is expected to gain a board seat, with its nominee to be named by March.  

New leadership. Zhu Xiaoyun is set to be the first woman to become president of China Re. The appointment follows Zhuang Qianzhi’s approval as chairman. Zhu, who joined the reinsurer in 1998, was most recently executive director and vice president. 

Nat cat brief. Japan issued a megaquake warning after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan on Monday, injuring at least 33 people and triggering small tsunamis.  

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the risk of an aftershock of 8-magnitude or higher along the Japan Trench and Chishima Trench has risen slightly.  

Meanwhile, Japan has lowered its projected death toll and economic losses from a potential major Tokyo-area earthquake.  

P&I renewals. P&I clubs face a crucial lead-up to the February renewals amid concerns over premium adequacy and rising claims costs. Clubs have announced 4–8% general increases, but many question if rates will cover more frequent and costly claims in the International Group pool.  

‘Not normal’: flooding unmasks climate change

When cyclones Ditwah and Senyar tore across Asia late last month, they did more than destroy homes and lives – they shattered the illusion that these disasters are exceptional. They are not.

More than 11 million people have been affected across Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and even in Vietnam and the Philippines.  

About 1.2 million were forced from their homes, over 1,750 lives have been lost, and thousands more remain unaccounted for beneath the thick mud that once was farmland.  

Experts say the devastation was driven by an extraordinary alignment of forces: cyclones Ditwah and Senyar forming almost simultaneously, colliding with a strengthened northeast monsoon.  

Warm ocean temperatures – supercharged by climate change – added fuel to the chaos, creating storm tracks in places that rarely experience them. 

While monsoon rains bring some flooding, scientists are clear that this was “not normal”. 

Clearly, climate crisis no longer announces itself through distant glaciers or abstract metrics. It pours through front doors, silences communities, and erases fragile recoveries overnight.  

And the economic impacts are equally merciless.  

Sri Lanka, which had finally clawed back from financial collapse with 4.5% GDP growth this year, is expected to see that figure fall to around 3% in 2026 because of Ditwah’s destruction.  

Across Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, Moody’s Insurance Solutions estimates over US$10 billion in losses – half from business interruption alone.  

Global supply chains have been shaken again, echoing the 2011 Thai floods that crippled car manufacturing.  

Though Southeast Asia is no stranger to widespread flood events, economic flood losses over the past 10 years have not exceeded US$1-2 billion. 

Only the 2011 Thailand floods were on a larger scale, with US$45 billion of economic losses reported at the time, Moody’s noted. 

The industry faces a mounting challenge: how to price risk in a world where yesterday’s “hundred‑year” event seems to happen every other year and how to make better products and distribute them to reach the wider populations, especially on the margins of the economy. 

Meanwhile, the growing evidence for anthropogenic climate change could have serious consequences for the (re)insurance industry.  

This week, survivors of Typhoon Odette filed a lawsuit in London against oil and gas giant Shell seeking corporate liability for specific climate-related deaths, injuries, and destruction. 

The claimants said that the case draws on new climate attribution research, which found that human-caused climate change more than doubled the likelihood of an extreme weather event like Typhoon Odette. 

People moves

Aon has hired Manulife’s Ben Jones as its COO for Asia Pacific. 

HDI Global has chosen Peter Schraa as its new head of marine in Singapore to expand its marine underwriting footprint in Southeast Asia. 

Sompo has enhanced its underwriting structure in Hong Kong with the promotions of Ophelia Szeto and Jessica Lai. 

Do check out our weekly people move round-up to stay up to speed on the most important appointments in the region.     

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Brokering deals. Australian broker AUB Group’s sales talks with private equity firms EQT and CVC has been called off as the bidders walked away. The consortium informed the company that they do not wish to proceed with their bid at AU$45 (US$29.46) a share.  

Meanwhile, AUB’s competitor Steadfast has seen stocks rally after reports that PE giant Blackstone was weighing a US$4.6 billion bid for the broker, which has been in the headlines recently for the wrong reasons. 

M&A update. Tiptree shareholders have approved the sale of US specialty insurer Fortegra to South Korea’s DB Insurance. The all-cash deal, reported to be around US$1.65 billion, was approved at a special meeting on Wednesday.

DB Insurance signed an agreement to acquire Tiptree and Warburg Pincus-owned US specialty insurer Fortegra for US$1.65 billion in September. 

Nat cat brief. Asia Pacific has accounted for around half of the US$22 billion total losses from tropical cyclones this year, according to Munich Re. The losses from windstorm events this year tracked far below the inflation-adjusted averages for the past 10 years (US$100 billion economic/US$40 billion insured), and the past 30 years (US$67 billion economic/US$26 billion insured).

Asia Pacific saw 27 tropical cyclones, 16 of which were of typhoon strength, develop in the Northwest Pacific by the end of November, while five became “super typhoons” in categories 3-5. 

Elsewhere, Windstorm events have wreaked havoc across Southeast Asia and South Asia. Tropical Storm Senyar, which followed a rare track through the Strait of Malacca, has caused widespread flooding in Thailand and Indonesia, with combined economic losses estimated at about US$20 billion, according to Aon. 

Tropical Storm Ditwah, the deadliest cyclone to hit Sri Lanka since 1978, is estimated to have caused US$613-835 million direct damage and about US$40 million in damages in India.  

Meanwhile, the Philippines and Vietnam were impacted by Typhoon Koto over the past week, but the impact was relatively benign compared to other typhoons this year. 

First reported. Allianz Re has announced a leadership change in APAC with Anna Kohls to take charge of the carrier as Kenrick Law has left the firm. Kohls will relocate from Munich to Singapore to lead the third-party P&C business across Asia Pacific. Law, who has been spearheading the reinsurer for nearly 12 years in the region, will take a break, he told InsuranceAsia News. 

Wang Fuk Court fire forces market reset

The recent tragedy at Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong’s Tai Po, where a devastating fire claimed 159 lives, is not just a heart-wrenching loss for the community but also a stark warning for the city’s insurance industry. 

Beyond the devastating human loss, the tragedy has triggered deep questions about accountability, governance, and risk culture in one of the world’s most vertical cities.  

It also threatens to upend long-standing assumptions in the insurance sector, where risk was priced too cheaply and managed too loosely for too long. 

Market dynamics will harden swiftly.  

Fitch anticipates insurers tightening project screening, mandating on-site monitoring, and hiking reserves for renovation risks –  especially high-rises with scaffolding.  

While immediate losses may be manageable, layered reinsurance arrangements and potential governmental support could mitigate longer-term impacts. 

Yet, the reality is more complex. The Hong Kong Federation of Insurers estimates that gross insured losses could reach at least US$200 million, as InsuranceAsia News had first reported.  

The loss is a substantial figure that suggests the fire may strain the financial underpinnings of the P&C sector. 

This comes on the heels of an already tumultuous year marked by extreme weather events and other notable fire losses like the one in Chinachem Tower in October, which have eroded underwriting margins and highlighted the inherent risks of insuring properties in high-density urban areas. 

The industry’s inevitable response will be a market hardening: higher premiums, stricter exclusions, and tighter underwriting for high-rise renovations.  

Industry sources tell me that insurers and reinsurers are already revisiting pricing and conditions in the ongoing renewal discussions. 

Initial investigations suggest that the fire’s rapid spread was accelerated by substandard plastic netting, tarpaulins, and foam boards used on building exteriors – materials failing basic fire safety standards.  

The picture echoes the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy in London, where combustible cladding claimed 72 lives and subsequently reshaped the UK’s regulatory and insurance landscape.  

Like Grenfell, the Wang Fuk Court disaster exposes how fragmented oversight and cost-driven decisions can create systemic vulnerabilities with catastrophic results.  

It is already prompting calls for sweeping reform of Hong Kong’s fire-safety code, especially regarding building materials, scaffolding standards, and renovation approval processes. 

For insurers, the claims complexities are immense. Multiple overlapping policies –property all-risk, contractors’ all-risk, third-party liability, and employee compensation – blur the lines of responsibility.  

Legal wrangling could arise over “legal requirements clauses” that void coverage if safety standards were breached. 

The Hong Kong Insurance Authority has acted quickly, forming a task force led by senior executives to coordinate the industry response and ensure speedy claims processing.  

Insurers have set up hotlines, offered premium holidays and policy-loan relief, and pledged simplified claims procedures. 

These gestures, though vital in the immediate aftermath, cannot substitute for structural reform. Insurance may cushion the economic blow, but only institutional reform can prevent the next inferno. 

People moves

Liberty Specialty Markets has restructured its Asia Pacific underwriting operations. Key appointments include Marcus Thomas relocating to Hong Kong as CUO for commercial Asia and third-party APAC, and Brett Gardiner as CUO of Australia and first-party APAC.  

QBE appointed Sebastian Tjornelund as head of marine underwriting for Asia. 

Berkley Re Asia has promoted Si Wei Tay to head of claims, and Billy Kwan to head of property and business support. 

Do check out our weekly people move round-up to stay up to speed on the most important appointments in the region.    

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