Message

Cint, 25 July 2010
Vietnam , Ho Chi Minh City 31°

Three days in the world of Microinsurance

I arrived at 1.00 AM at The Intercontinental Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) after a delayed flight from Shanghai. It is a very comfortable the conference hotel, a little old-fashioned set up in the lobby lounge but it had a remarkable good functioning WIFI.

I joined the 4th Asian Conference on Microinsurance. As most of the high level conferences in the Asian region it was organized by the Asian Insurance Review. It was wonderful to meet some of the ladies again. I was in Vietnam for the second time this year. I am glad I can have more focus on future business again and can slowly clear my head from all challenges of the past months in the organization. The world has changed during the North Atlantic Crisis. It is the art of observation, adapting and focusing on what there can be added to the market now. After the crisis I see a growing demand for risk management, simple products and control. New legislation, new systems and a change customer behavior, that’s our world now.

Microinsurance is a fast growing concept in the Insurance world. It grew from the Micro Finance movement and is still under development. The Micro Loans had to be paid back but people can die, have an accident or a natural disaster can ruin everything they invested from the loan. Micro loans needed to be insured and from here you can also look at life, health, livestock, children or whatever insurances. We can help when the new systems are put into operation, the new products are designed or legislation is implemented. In this area there are idealist and more and more the clever insurers. They know that the poor cannot afford expensive sophisticated products. In this field the new world mass products are designed. Bringing the administration cost to the bare minimum, making optimal use of modern technology and implementing effective claims control. There questions if the products are focused on the individual or is the community in control. What will be the effects and what the financial result. Who will be the stakeholders or will we center on the shareholders. Not yet all the answers are there but it will have a huge impact on the insurance world in the next decade.

David is the chairman of the conference and his company Unirisx the big sponsor. Professor Dror of the Micro Insurance Academy and the Rotterdam Erasmus University is the key note speaker. The conference delivers cases and best praxis. It is about technology, community feeling and claims. In the breaks and lunches I can do my networking with old and new friends. Especially after de crisis, the faces have changed. International companies withdraw and came back. In the past year I had to consolidate my Asian business forced by my European bank. I am looking forward to be building the business here again.