East Asian Insurance Day for 2024
October,2024
The EAIC is one of the biggest international insurance conferences, which was founded in 1962 with the aim of furthering and developing international collaboration in the field of insurance.
The EAIC was first convened on October 18th and subsequently became the East Asian Insurance Day after the 23rd EAIC in 2006 designated the day as a way to help the public gain a better understanding of the role of insurance in East Asia.
The member cities of the EAIC have been leading various cross-regional promotional activities focusing on insurance that reflect the situation in each country. As part of this initiative, the Life Insurance Association of Japan (LIAJ) would like to deliver a message from Mr. Masayuki Tanaka, the General Secretary of the East Asian Insurance Congress (EAIC) on the occasion of the East Asia Insurance Day.
EAIC Bandar Seri Begawan Declaration adopted on 2nd August 2006
We, the EAIC executive board and the chief delegates, had decided to designate October 18th as the East Asian Insurance Day with the purpose of promoting the role and importance of insurance, as well as the activities of the EAIC in each region on the occasion of the 23rd EAIC held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei in 2006. The day is also a symbolic day when the 1st EAIC was held in Tokyo in 1962.
EAIC's key activities
Since 1962, the EAIC has been held every other year and the 30th EAIC for 2024 was held for Hong Kong.
For 2026, the conference is scheduled to be held in Tokyo, and the insurance industry in Japan all together will work on preparing the conference.
Message from the EAIC General Secretary
Mr. Masayuki Tanaka
The EAIC General Secretary
I would like to deliver a message on the occasion of the East Asian Insurance Day for 2024.
East Asian Insurance Day was established by the Executive Board of the 23rd EAIC (East Asian Insurance Congress) in 2006 to broadly promote insurance system in a common way among East Asian countries. Since then, various enlightment activities tailored to the circumstances of each city have been carried out. Efforts to improve insurance literacy have been made across Asian countries, including publicizing insurance systems through mass media and holding lectures at universities. Japan has also contributed by providing comments to domestic and international industry papers and disseminating information about EAIC through the Life Insurance Association of Japan’s website.
The EAIC has been held every two years since 1962, visiting cities such as Tokyo, Manila, Bangkok, Seoul, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Singapore, Macau, Bandar Seri Begawan, and Hong Kong. Face-to-face meetings had been suspended after 2018 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the 30th conference was finally held in Hong Kong from 24 to 27 September, 2024. This conference gathered over 1,000 participants with a diverse background from 32 countries (regions) in Asia, the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and even the United Nations.
To summarize the Hong Kong conference, at the beginning, Mr. Michael Wong Wai-lun, GBS, JP, Acting Financial Secretary of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, gave a speech to show the governments’ willingness to address climate change, economic uncertainty, technological developments in cooperation with the insurance sector. The speech offered an expectation for further development through public-private sector cooperation.
The 4-days conference invited insurance regulators, life and non-life insurance companies, reinsurance companies, life and non-life insurance and reinsurance associations, brokers, consulting firms, digital technology providers, and others from around the world. They participated in panel discussions and speeches on topics such as insurance industry marketing, CX (customer experience)/DX (digital transformation) strategies, recruiting, underwriting/claims services, insurance risk, cyber risk, and specialty insurance. This provided an opportunity to cover the latest information from each country and actively exchange their views.
This was the first time since EAIC began in 1962 that we have invited the United Nations. Mr. Butch Bacani, Head of Insurance at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), who leads the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI), and Dr. Shinobu Yamaguchi of the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) gave panel discussion and lecture respectively. To achieve a sustainable future, it is urgent to raise awareness on the global environment and bio-diversity loss in Asia, which accounts for about 50% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, their presentations created an opportunity for the East Asian insurance industry to be offered implications directly from UN agencies about the environmental issues.
At the closing ceremony, where networking and cultural events took place, a welcome message from Tokyo, as the host city for 2026, was presented. The long-running conference concluded with cheers from many participants.
This experience in the Hong Kong conference made me realize the significant role that EAIC has played in promoting networking and mutual understanding for over 60 years by bringing together numerous individuals from the insurance industry, primarily from East Asia, under close cooperation between the public and private sectors. It also emphasized the importance of insurance in addressing the emerging social issues such as climate change and cyber risks.
I sincerely hope that by taking advantage of the East Asia Insurance Day, insurance literacy in each country will deepen, contributing to the development of the entire Asian region. Additionally, I expect the Day to become a reminder of the role that insurance can play in resolving the social issues for all those engaged in the insurance industry in East Asia.