XL Group Underwriters at IUMI Conference in Hong Kong

By George Backwell September 21, 2014

XL Group informs that its leading marine underwriters will join the annual International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) conference, the first time to be held in Hong Kong in the organisation’s 140-year history.

IUMI is being held in HK from 21-24 September 2014 with the theme 'Building Expertise for a Changing World'.

XL Group’s Chief Underwriting Officer, Marine, Asia Pacific, Mike Davies, has been global Vice Chairman of IUMI for 3 years and prior to that was Chairman of the Technical Cargo Committee for 6 years. Commenting he said: “The decision to host IUMI in Asia reflects the growing importance of the region in the international maritime market.”

Mr. Davies, who has worked in Singapore for many years, has been actively involved in shaping this year’s conference, which will focus on the opportunities and risks specific to Asian markets and the region’s fast growing maritime sector.

Commenting, Mr. Davies said: “One major trend which will be a focus at IUMI is that marine insurance premiums generated from Asian markets continue to increase as a percentage of the global total. This demonstrates that a higher proportion of insurance premiums are being placed in the emerging Asian marine insurance markets rather than being repatriated to the well-established markets in [the] Western World. This trend is anticipated to continue with the Asian markets of Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai developing as major global marine insurance hubs in the future.”

Philip Chan, XL Group’s Manager for its insurance operations in Greater China said: “We are delighted that IUMI is taking place in Hong Kong this year, it will certainly give the region the opportunity to showcase its expertise in Marine insurance.”

Mr. Chan continued: “We anticipate lively and thought provoking debate and will be represented at IUMI 2014 by twelve underwriters in total, with four attending from the Hong Kong office, three from Singapore, two from London, two from the US and one from Australia.”

XL Group is represented on the global IUMI technical committees for hull and cargo by two senior underwriters in Asia. Singapore-based Pauline Lim is on the IUMI Ocean Hull Committee. Hong Kong-based Joanne Chan is on the IUMI Cargo Committee and she will be taking part in the panel discussion entitled: “Current & Future challenges of Underwriting Cargo in Asia.

Full details of the conference and registration can be found on the IUMI 2014 Conference website www.iumi2014hk.com