AUSTRALIA’S SUPERANNUATION market reported a 10.6% rise in quarterly growth, to A$1.2 trillion (US$1.1 trillion) in total assets for the three months ended Sept. 30 from the previous quarter. The quarter’s total assets also rose from A$1.1 trillion in the same period a year earlier, according to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (BestWire, Dec. 10, 2009).

JAPAN’S T&D HOLDINGS INC. said it plans to raise ¥136.86 billion (US$1.57 billion) from the sale of new shares through a public offering and third-party allotment. The capital raising is mostly to repay the life insurance group’s outstanding loans of ¥112.7 billion as of October 2009 (BestWire, Dec. 2, 2009).

JAPAN POST INSURANCE CO. LTD. [90527] has reported that data from 121,000 policyholders was lost from a post office in Kobe City in October. The lost policyholders’ personal data included names, birth dates, premium amounts, policy and account numbers from 40 floppy disks with information recorded from July 2002 to May 2005 (BestWire, Dec. 8, 2009).

OCTOBER’S TYPHOON MELOR brought nonlife insurers incurred claims of ¥55 billion (US$624 million) in Japan, according to the General Insurance Association of Japan. The majority of incurred claims came from fire insurance, totaling ¥37.6 billion, according to the association’s report on 25 insurers in Japan. Marine insurers received insured claims of ¥8.1 billion and automobile insurers ¥6.2 billion (BestWire, Dec. 11, 2009).

THE CHINA INSURANCE REGULATORY Commission’s Hebei bureau said the policy-guided cow insurance market recorded positive results with rapid development in the province. According to the regulator, as of early December, the province in northern China has provided coverage of more than 871 million yuan (US$127 million) (BestWire, Dec. 9, 2009).

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Published by A.M. Best Company
BESTWEEK ASIA/PACIFIC
15 December, 2009 Issue 53
PRESIDENT & CHAIRMAN Arthur Snyder III
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