Peak Re’s Kersaw says ‘culture’ key to reinsurance growth in APAC

Understanding the cultures of different markets in the Asia-Pacific region is vital to success for re/insurers operating in the region, Chris Kershaw, managing director, Global Markets at Peak Re, told Monte Carlo Today.

He explained that emerging markets in Asia, namely China and India, are key to generating significant growth for the company.

“Peak Re was not formed out of a market dislocation, like the typical Bermudian player. We were founded out of an intent to help the economies and societies of emerging Asia grow and to support its expanding middle class,” he said.

“Over the next few decades Asia-Pacific will remain the global growth engine for insurance and reinsurance. We felt that it wasn’t particularly well served by expertise that understands it.”

Kershaw said the expertise and regional knowledge within Peak Re comes from the fact senior management have spent most of their careers in Asia.

“The underlying growth in Asia-Pacific will help us also to grow. Within that we have two sizable economies China and India as developing markets, and Japan and South Korea are substantial markets as well.

“When you look at the population of China and India, roughly 1.3 billion each, they have very different demographics. For example, in India 50 percent of the people are under the age of 25.

“The approach we have to business needs to fit the market being targeted. You’ll never understand business if you don’t understand culture,” Kershaw said.

The company puts a lot of emphasis on understanding the needs of its clients, not just in a reinsurance sense, but by understanding what they need in the context of what is happening in their countries, which includes very large countries and much smaller ones, he added.

Peak Re has organised various client events in the market in China to present new products for emerging cyber risk as well as emerging liability risk.

“There are emerging casualty risks in that market which we see as quite exciting from a business perspective,” he said.

In India, the company has spent time working with the local markets and presenting its thoughts on agriculture.

“That’s important to us. Agricultural insurance in India is fully government-subsidised and is there to advance social stability,” he concluded.