While happily walking and talking, they bumped into a giant black bear which was apparently in a bad mood and in need of some nutritious food. Even though this was their very first encounter of a big bear in the wilderness, the ferocity displayed by the bear cast no doubt in their minds that their lives were at stake. So the two of them ran as fast as they could downhill and soon they reached the flat land at the bottom of the hill. Unfortunately the bear appeared to be quite determined to get the catch of the day and was chasing them from 50 yards behind. Suddenly one man stopped running and took out his running shoes from his knapsack to put them on. The other guy was very puzzled and asked: “What are you doing, you stupid? I don’t think you can run faster than the bear even with your running shoes on!” The other guy replied: “Yes, I know this. But it would be good enough if I can run faster than you!” 5. What is the moral of this story? One, the world can be very dangerous and unpredictable risk may crop up from nowhere. So be prepared. Two, the world is a very competitive place. It is not about how fast you can run, but whether you can outrun your competitors. The marketplace is a wild jungle in which only the very fit or the fittest can hope to survive or succeed. 6.
This reduces the need for private and public borrowing following a natural catastrophe. Public and private sectors each has its role to play in increasing insurance penetration 8. The responsibility of ensuring adequate insurance coverage does not reside solely with the governments. Individuals and businesses, too, should have vested interests to ensure that their respective exposures to natural catastrophe risks are sufficiently mitigated and insured. 9. However, increasing insurance penetration is certainly not without its challenges, and here I will highlight three: (i)  Firstly, the lack of awareness of natural catastrophe risk and solutions amongst individuals, businesses and governments; which can go some way to explain the lack of appetite for catastrophe risk transfer solutions in Asia. This is where I think the insurance industry can play a proactive role in raising awareness, through lending expertise and offering risk management advice, engaging governments and organizations in regional collaborative efforts, ,and through industry conferences such as the ICRM Symposium. (ii)  Secondly, a lack of quality Asian catastrophe risk data, which impedes the industry’s ability to conduct robust risk assessments, modeling and underwriting for the region. In response to the importance of quality quantification of catastrophe risk in the region, we have seen many notable efforts being undertaken in various quarters. 4  “Loyd’s Global Underinsurance Report, October 2012”. 5  “Peter, Dahlen, Saxena (2012), ‘Unmitigated disasters? New evidence on the macroeconomic cost of natural catastrophes’”.