Latest Asia Headlines
All the headlines from our Asia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Xchanging Expands in SE Asia with New Office in Malaysia
May 31 2013 // Xchanging, the UK-based technology services provider, announced the expansion of its presence in Southeast Asia, with a “significant growth in headcount” and a new regional hub office in Kuala...
Lower Ice Levels, Rule Changes to Boost Arctic Northern Sea Route
May 30 2013 // Shipping along the Arctic northern sea route is set to grow more than 30-fold over the next eight years and could account for a quarter of the cargo traffic between Europe and Asia by 2030, experts said on Wednesday. With...
Insurers, Banks Leveraging Trade Talks to Change Dodd-Frank
May 23 2013 // U.S. bankers and insurers are trying to use trade deals, which can trump existing legislation, to weaken parts of the Dodd-Frank Act designed to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. While the companies say they...
Prudential Committed to UK As Asia Units Rise
May 8 2013 // Insurer Prudential has reaffirmed a commitment to its British home market as a source of financial strength and profit even as Asian units romped ahead as the main driver of sales. Speaking on Tuesday after posting 8...
Resort Airports in Stormy Southeast Asia Leave Safety to Chance
May 3 2013 // It’s the invisible enemy: something all pilots dread as they land at Asia’s tropical island resorts. Wind shear – or the sudden change in wind speed and direction – is particularly hazardous at...
World’s Hot Spots for Cargo Theft
Apr 30 2013 // Cargo theft rates in Europe increased 24 percent on average last year from 2011, and were on the rise in Asia as well, while rates in North, Central and South Americas remained consistent with prior years. The greatest...
O’Neil Joins Miller Insurance for Facultative Growth in Asia
Apr 12 2013 // Specialist insurance and reinsurance broker Miller Insurance Services LLP announced that facultative reinsurance specialist Nick O’Neil has joined its team in Singapore in a new business development and client...
U.S. Aims to Reshape World Trade Rules with Regional Pacts Says VP Biden
Apr 10 2013 // The United States hopes to use a proposed regional free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific and another with the European Union to reshape global rules for trade, Vice President Joe Biden said on Friday. “Our goal is...
Sources Say UBS Was Mystery Lender for Thai Group’s Ping An Deal
Apr 5 2013 // The mystery lender behind a Thai billionaire’s $9.4 billion purchase of a stake in China’s No.2 insurer was UBS, which offered the region’s fourth largest bridge loan ever and a complex financing package...
Analysts Say Asia-Pacific Trade Talks Could Stretch Well into 2014
Apr 4 2013 // Free-trade talks between the United States and 10 countries in the Asia-Pacific region could stretch into late next year, especially if Japan joins the negotiations, former U.S. trade officials said on...
Munich Re Study Sees Asia Pacific Dominating Insurance Growth by 2020
Mar 20 2013 // “Asia-Pacific will be the dominant driver of world insurance growth by 2020,” according to a study published by Munich Re’s Economic Research Department. The report forecasts that premium income for the...
Report Warns of Rise in Maritime Crime in South East Asia
Mar 18 2013 // UK’-based marine intelligence provider, Dryad Maritime, is releasing a special report – “Special Advisory Southeast Asia. Disorganized theft to organized crime” – which will focus on the rise...
Finaccord Reports on Bancassurance in Global Markets
Mar 14 2013 // A new report from UK based market research, publishing and consulting firm Finaccord notes that “emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America offer the most growth potential for bancassurers but the...
Hong Kong’s Peak Re Licenses AIR Worldwide Catastrophe Modeling Systems
Mar 14 2013 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide announced that Hong Kong-based Peak Reinsurance Co. Ltd., which focuses on the Asia-Pacific market, has selected AIR’s catastrophe modeling solutions to manage its catastrophe...
Iran’s March Crude Exports Fall to Lowest Since Sanctions Began
Mar 12 2013 // Iran’s crude oil exports in March may plunge by a quarter from a month earlier to the lowest since tight Western sanctions came into effect in 2012, industry sources said, squeezing income for Tehran as sanctions...
Carlyle, KKR Among Bidders for Insurer in ‘Hot’ Thai Market
Mar 12 2013 // Carlyle Group LP and KKR & Co. LP are among the bidders to have made first round offers to buy a minority stake in Thai Life Insurance Co. Ltd., in a deal said to be worth about $500 million, according to people close...
White House Says Will Seek ‘Fast-Track’ Trade Authority
Mar 4 2013 // The White House on Friday said it would work for approval of politically contentious legislation that would ease the way for new trade deals, as it tries to wrap up talks on an Asia-Pacific free-trade agreement this...
TransRe Appoints Saville Manager, Sr. VP-Underwriting in Singapore
Mar 4 2013 // TransRe, the brand name for Transatlantic Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries, announced that Robert Saville has been appointed Sr. VP – Head of Underwriting at the new Singapore office of Transatlantic Reinsurance...
Insurance Australia Group Posts US$ 840 Million Half Year Insurance Profit
Feb 22 2013 // Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG) announced an insurance profit of A$815 million [US$840 million] for the half-year ended 31 December 2012, compared to A$276 million [US$284.6 million], for the first half of 2012....
International Chamber of Commerce Survey Finds Improved Economic Climate
Feb 13 2013 // The Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Munich-based Ifo institute for economic research have released findings, which conclude that the “world economy is showing signs of brightening after...
