Navigating the challenges and opportunities of Asia: MS Amlin’s Ho
‘I don’t think there’s a lack of opportunity in Asia at this point, but I do think there might be a bit too much enthusiasm, particularly this year,’ says William Ho
Asia provides diversification potential for international reinsurers, but carriers must understand the potential pitfalls, MS Amlin Asia Pacific chief executive William Ho tells the Insurance Day podcast
ASIA is full of opportunities, but reinsurers looking to the region as a somewhere to place excess capital need to be more about the nuances of the markets there, according to MS Amlin Asia Pacific chief executive William Ho.
Speaking on the Insurance Day podcast, William Ho says Asia is a good place for international reinsurers to diversify their portfolio beyond the US and European markets because of the extremely low penetration rates across the region.
But Ho warns carriers against rushing in without properly understanding the region’s different markets, saying he has been “struggling to comprehend” some of the decisions made by some companies.
“I don’t think there’s a lack of opportunity in Asia at this point, but I do think there might be a bit too much enthusiasm, particularly this year, that might lead to some potential pitfalls for some people,” Ho says.
“We’ve been in Asia for a long time; we see what can happen and these pricing pressures are coming potentially from capacity that hasn’t been there as long and may not have experienced a full cycle.
“And sometimes we are seeing evidence of behaviour that we’re struggling to comprehend ourselves because we’ve been there a lot longer and we see what can and has happened in the past.”
Ho says MS Amlin still has growth aspirations in the region, but as the cycle starts to turn the reinsurer plans to be selective and do “more with less” as the market becomes more disrupted.
“We can’t avoid the big [catastrophe] events from happening, but what we can do is deploy our capacity with the [insurers] that we know will do the right thing post-loss, and we want to support them maximising their opportunity where possible,” says Ho.
MS Amlin plans to gradually diversify its largely natural catastrophe portfolio to include more specialty lines, Ho explains.
Ho also discusses MS Amlin’s plans to launch its first sidecar in Asia after Singapore’s regulator said it will introduce a protected cell company (PCC) framework to support the growth of alternative risk transfer solutions.
Ho says Singapore’s move will allow transactions to happen that would previously been too small and not economically efficient for a special-purpose reinsurance vehicle.
“I think that’s only a positive to allow that type of structure which will reduce cost and allow more flexibility,” he says. “We’re looking to hopefully move from the cat bond space with Phoenix Re into the full-on sidecar space as well.
“That’s something we’re working on this year with a view to launching hopefully our first genuine Asian sidecar for 2027.”
