The 5th ASEAN Reinsurance Working Group (ARWG) Meeting was successfully hosted by Indonesia Re at The Westin Jakarta. The event took place on 23 July 2024 in the Denpasar Meeting Room, marking a significant milestone for the region’s renewable energy sector.
The highlight of the meeting was the insightful presentation by Ahmad Noor Azhari Abdul Manaf, President & CEO of Malaysian Reinsurance Berhad, on the latest development of AREP which commenced operations on 1 July 2024. AREP is now available as a capacity market for renewable energy facultative reinsurance for the ASEAN region. Chubb Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. serves as the Lead Underwriter for this initiative, with Guy Carpenter as the broker. This collaboration signifies a major advancement in insurance coverage and support for renewable energy businesses and projects across ASEAN.
With Chubb’s extensive experience not only in the ASEAN region, but they also add a unique flavour by bringing valuable technical knowledge transfer within the underwriting committee of AREP This strategy enhances the Technical Underwriting Committee’s diversity, with each ASEAN member contributing insights from their respective markets.
By integrating these perspectives, the platform ensures that the pooled expertise and insights drive informed and balanced underwriting decisions. This collective effort establishes robust and cohesive support specifically tailored for managing renewable energy risks across the ASEAN region. Through the exchange of best practices and underwriting expertise, the pool aims to enhance underwriting capabilities regionally, enabling all members to benefit from shared learning and development opportunities.
Present during the meeting were: Malaysian Reinsurance Berhad as the Pool Manager, represented by the President & CEO Ahmad Noor Azhari Abdul Manaf and members of the pool and their representatives, namely: Cambodian Reinsurance Company, Ty Atith; PT Reasuransi Indonesia Utama (Persero), ARWC Chair Delil Khairat; National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines (Nat Re), Jose Augurio N. De Vera Jr.; Thai Reinsurance Public Company Limited, Oran Vongsuraphichet; and Vietnam National Reinsurance Corporation (Vietnam), Dao Manh Duong. There were also guest attendees from Chubb Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, represented by Kevin Stevens and Guy Carpenter & Company, represented by Danny Lai.
The intention of setting up this pool is to support the ASEAN governments’ commitment in targeting net-zero emission to deal with climate change. Given the potential challenges in respect of the capacity and expertise in ESG/Renewable Energy and the complexity of the solar, wind, and other renewable energy resources, the inherent financial risk associated with these ventures can be potentially overwhelming for one insurance company to manage effectively.
Therefore, there is a need for a group of companies to pool their resources and band together to form an insurance pool to underwrite the risks associated with these renewable energy sources. With AREP, more companies will have the peace of mind in venturing into renewable sources of energy.
