In the medium term, the region is expected to benefit from the deeper regional financial integration agreed by the leaders of ASEAN and recently reported concluding of TPP negotiation. These agreements would result in a more efficient allocation of regional savings to meet the region’s large investment needs which will support growth and consequently financial well-being and soundness. The improved income arising from the economic developments will spur greater demand for insurance services in the region and present immense growth opportunities for the insurance and takaful industry. The Asia Pacific region offers high growth prospects over the long term underpinned by potential demand arising from structural changes and evolving risk exposure. This will have the implication of increasing wealth and shifting preferences, but challenged by a rapidly ageing population and frequent incidences of catastrophic events. First, increasing wealth and shifting preferences in Asia Pacific Rising incomes have increased the spending power and affluence of consumers in Asia Pacific. GDP per capita for the region reached 15,242 US dollars as at end-2013, well above the world average of 10,613 US dollars for the same period. Reflecting higher standards of living and enhanced purchasing power, demand for insurance products in the region has evolved to encompass a broader range of protection and investment solutions that are more responsive to differing risk and return preferences. This has also been Malaysia’s experience, with the significant growth of investment-linked insurance premiums over the last decade alone.
Another important area is to raise the professional standards of the industry that reflects the highest standards of professional conduct, knowledge and competence. In this regard, the grand design of the industry, the Financial Sector Blueprint, clearly emphasized on the need to develop talents across all levels of an institution, spanning from the entry level to senior management and the board of directors. Indeed, a holistic talent development and management is a good example of an initiative that combine art with science which a visionary institution must be able to master to achieve its goals. The second imperative is the ability of the industry to effectively leverage on technology to build strong, innovative and competitive businesses. This includes developing a deep understanding of how changes in technology impact people’s lives and transforming how consumers and investors behave and view the value proposition of businesses. For instance, mobile phone penetration in Asia alone makes up 52 per cent of total global penetration. The highly developed telecom markets of Asia with 3.6 billion people across Asia having mobile phones spread across a diverse range of markets, capitalising on mobile data/wireless broadband services would mostly likely chart the way of the future. Growth across Asia in high speed access to the internet by mobile wireless devices has been largely driven by highly competitive markets combined with a general population who are prepared to embrace new mobile technologies.