Bangladesh

1. Bangladesh Adopted International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS):The Government of the People's Republic Bangladesh adopted International Financial
Reporting Standard (IFRS) officially in 2019. Actuarial Society of Bangladesh
cooperated in-general and technical issues to the newly formed Financial ReportingCouncil (FRC) of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Accounting Standard (BAS) is following in
all Financial Reporting since 1972 after becoming independent in 1971. It will takefew years to execute the IFRS in Bangladesh.
2. Premium Calculator is Mandatory in Insurance Company's Web Site:Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) issued an obligatory
circular on the last week of 2019 to the insurance company in Bangladesh to create
premium calculator within February 2020. Bangladesh Insurance marketing system
is ordinary till today in the digital world. Only 3-6 company have digital Apps to sale
online policy out of 89 insurance company and most of the company don't havepremium calculator, product details and benefit in their web site. This new initiative
may play a vital role to build Digital Bangladesh with vibrant economy.
3. Life Insurance Gross Premium Collection Growth Rate Increased 7% in 2019:
The total premium collection in Life Insurance industry was BDT 9608,22,00, 000(USD 113.48 million). In 2019, the amount was BDT 8912,13,00,000 (USD 105.26million) in 2018.
As a result, life insurance premium gross collection growth rate increased by 7percent.

Actuarial Society of Bangladesh

China

1. CBIRC Issues New Policy on Life Insurance Liability Reserve Rate.
In August 2019, the China Banking Regulatory Commission issued a new policy onliability reserve rate for life insurance and to lower the up limit of the liability reserve
rate for some life insurance product, in order to better cope with the low interest rate
market environment and prevent the risk of interest loss.
2. China’s State Council Revises China’s “Foreign-Invested Insurance Company”
Regulations.
In September 2019, the State Council formally approved the revision of theRegulations of Foreign-Invested Insurance Company, relaxing the restrictions onmarket access by foreign-funded insurance companies. In November 2019, Allianz(China) Insurance Holdings Limited started business as the first foreign insurance
holding company in China.
3. CBIRC Issues Newly-revised Health Insurance Regulations.
In November 2019, the China Banking Regulatory Commission released a
newly-revised Health Insurance Regulations, covering the definition of “HealthInsurance”, product and operation. These new guidelines will further encourage
differentiation and product innovation in the industry’s health product offerings.

Insurance Association of China

Indonesia

1. DIGITAL AND RISK MANAGEMENT (DRIM)
On September, 26th, 2019 implemented Digital & Risk Management in Insurance(DRIM) located in Bali, Indonesia. It is one of the AAJI working programs to increase
the penetration of life insurance and financial inclusion for the community. Themarket potential of the life insurance industry should be immediately optimized. Easeof technology, can push the market penetration acceleration especially millennials.
2. TOP AGENT AWARDS
The 32th Top Agent Award was held on August, 8-9th, 2019 in Solo City, Central Java.
AAJI with the member do Industry Social Responsibility (ISR) by establishing a life
insurance park at the Manahan Stadium of Solo. In education, there is the exhibitionof life insurance companies and the importance of life insurance. The event aims tomotivate life insurance agents through public figure success stories and awarding newagents.
3. INDONESIA MORTALITY TABLE (IMT) IVOn October 27th, 2017, has signed a cooperation agreement between the IndonesianLife Insurance Association (AAJI) with the Indonesian Actuary Association (PAI)
witnessed the Financial Services Authority (OJK) at the Indonesian Actuarial
Conference event in Bali. Based on IMT IV, the mortality rate for infants aged <1 year
has decreased from IMT 2011. In line with Indonesian health profiles 2017, where themortality rate of infants in 2017 decreased from 2011.

Indonesia Life Insurance AssociationKorea□ Limit on First year commission for protection-type policies to no more than 1,200% ofmonthly premium
The Financial Services Commission of Korea (FSC) has decided to put a limit oncommissions to be paid to insurance agents in the first year for selling protection-type
policies to no more than 1,200% of monthly premium.
In last August, the financial authority announced measures to reform the insurance
operating expenses and commission payment system. According to the measures, thefirst year commission for selling protection-type insurance will be restricted within theamount of premiums policyholders have paid, aiming to constrain mis-selling andprevent insurance agents from selling policies which is maintained only for a shortterm in pursuit of more commissions.
In addition, level commission payment will be run in parallel with upfront commission
payment, which is pointed out as a major indictment of the insurance industry.
Distribution channels will be allowed to choose a method of payment between upfront
commission and level commission. In case of the level commission payment, the total
amount of commissions to be paid to insurance agents will be higher by 5% or above
than the upfront commission payment.
The reform measures for the insurance commission payment system are set to go live
from 2021.
□ System reform for innovative growth
In recent years, low interest rates and market saturation have driven the businesslandscape of the Korean insurance industry into difficulties. In the midst of theindustry of making ceaseless effort to seek out new growth engines, the Financial
Services Commission (FSC) pushed forward system reforms for innovative growth of
the insurance industry in 2019.
The FSC revised the Enforcement Decree of the Insurance Business Act to allow aninsurer to have a fintech subsidiary in June, 2019. The Insurance Business Act used tostrictly limit types of business an insurer can carry on in a form of subsidiary andprohibited an insurer from investing more than 15% of its holdings in fintech
companies. The revised Enforcement Decree of the Insurance Business Act permits aninsurer to have its fintech subsidiary upon approval of the FSC, provided that such
subsidiary shall perform tasks acknowledged as necessary for the effective

management of the insurer’s business.
Moreover, the authority allowed insurers to provide policyholders with devices
designed for healthcare and proved to be effective in mitigating insurance risks in lastDecember, aiming to facilitate the provision of insurance plans and services that
promote wellness. Meanwhile, the value of such devices shall be whichever is less of
KRW 100,000 or 50% of loading premium to prevent any disruption to soliciting orders.
In addition, the FSC announced that it will allow insurers to own a healthcaresubsidiary.
In line with a series of the substantial improvement in the systems, a wide variety ofwellness-promoting-type insurance policies and innovative services is anticipated tobe developed and launched in 2020.

□System reform for a soft landing of K-ICS and LAT
Korea is set to introduce a new solvency regime named “K-ICS” to enhance
convergence with international standards such as IFRS 17, Solvency Ⅱ and the ICS.
However, unfavorable conditions including sharply declining government bonds yields
and increasing costs for issuing corporate bonds continuously posed challenges to theimplementation of the K-ICS. In response to the industry’s mounting concerns, theFinancial Services Commission (FSC) announced that it will remain in support of asoft landing of K-ICS 2.0, a revised version of K-ICS, by granting insurers a sufficienttransitional period in consideration of multiple aspects including the development of
the global insurance capital standards, the domestic capital and foreign currency
market landscapes and insurers’ capabilities. Accordingly, the Financial Supervisory
Service (FSS) revealed the revised version of the new solvency regime followed by aquantitative impact study (QIS).
Liability Adequacy Test (LAT) was scheduled to be improved to ensure thatassessment and accumulation of insurance liability is close to what is required under
IFRS 17. However, as the industry raised concerns that the volume of policy reserves
insurers need to further accumulate will dramatically rise in the rapidly fallinginterest rate environment, the financial authority announced measures to put off
implementing a roadmap for improving the LAT in October and to address an issue ofcurrent loss occurring as a result of accumulating an excessive amount of policy
reserves. Moreover, the FSC will allow insurers to accumulate statutory reserve in aform of “reserves for financial stability” to enable insurers to increase their capital in
preparation for IFRS 17.

Korea Life Insurance Association

Malaysia

1. Consumer Education & Awareness Campaign on Investment-Linked Plans (ILP) for
Insurance and Takaful Industry
During the year, LIAM embarked on a consumer education and awareness campaign
on investment-linked plans (ILP) following the issuance of a policy document onInvestment-Linked Business by Central Bank (Bank Negara Malaysia) in January
2019.
The Campaign aimed to educate consumers on their policy, to improve transparency
and ensure consumers are provided with sufficient and timely information to ensure
the sustainability of their policies.
The Campaign mechanics include the development of a standard communication
template in three languages namely English, Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin. The
template explains the sustainability of ILPs; how the policies work, what could reduce
fund value and what customers need to do to ensure the continued coverage of theirpolicy until the end of their contract term.
A series of exclusive interviews were arranged with the print and electronic media
between the months of May to June 2019.

Subsequently, ILP advertorials werefeatured in the English, Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin newspapers in July andDecember. Special write-ups and info graphics were also published by financial
bloggers and financial portals as well as a series of five vector videos to educate
Malaysians on ILP.
To view the vector videos, click http://www.liam.org.my/news/videos.aspx?ct=32. LIAM launches a newly-revamped website
During the year, LIAM revamped its corporate website www.liam.org.my withmobile-friendly features and tablet responsive to cater to the younger generation.
Based on a magazine style concept, the website has more security features,
mobile/tablet friendly, flexible, and easy to maintain and update in the long run tosupport LIAM’s ongoing and future activities. Using windows platform, the website
also has social media module - likes, share and send features.

The new website was launched to the media on 6 December 2019 at the MediaAppreciation Lunch hosted by LIAM at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel Kuala Lumpur.
3. Nationwide Blood Donation Campaign 2019
In conjunction with Malaysia’s 62nd Independence and Malaysia Day celebration 2019,
life insurance industry joined hands with NAMLIFA and Pusat Darah Negara toorganise a month-long campaign at over 40 strategic locations nationwide from 1 to 30
September 2019.
With the theme, “Donate Blood and Save up to three lives”, the campaign covered five
regions namely Central, Northern, Southern, East Coast and East Malaysia.

Itrecorded 3,000 registered donors and collected a total of 2,500 bags of blood.
At the Secretariat level, a 7-day blood donation activities were carried out at threelocations in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor to encourage more people in the Klang Valley
to participate in the campaign.
The launching ceremony was held at Tesco Kepong Village Mall, Kuala Lumpur, on 20
September 2019. To coincide with the launch, LIAM collaborated with the National
Heart Institute and KPJ Healthcare to offer Complimentary Health screenings andConsultation, Flexibility Test and Anti-Smoking Clinic for patrons at the Mall.

Life Insurance Association of MalaysiaTaiwan

1. Taiwan earns “regular follow-up” rating in the APG Third Round Mutual Evaluation
Taiwan received the Third Round Mutual Evaluation of Asia/Pacific Group on Money
Laundering (APG) at the end of 2018. Taiwan Life and Cathay Life represented thelife insurance sector in the APG onsite evaluation. The preliminary report on theevaluation was released in June 2019, putting Taiwan in the “regular follow-up”
category. In the 22nd AGP annual meeting (in which 41 member countries from Asia
Pacific attended) held in Canberra, Australia during August 18 – 23, 2019, members
agreed to adopt the mutual evaluation report on Taiwan after hearing thepresentations of people from Taiwan’s Anti-Money Laundering Office and ministries.
In the evaluation report, Taiwan was rated “compliant” or “largely compliant” in 36
areas of technical compliance ratings and in 7 areas of effectiveness ratings, andreceived an overall rating in “regular follow-up” category, suggesting Taiwan’s efforts
in AML are highly recognized by other countries in the world.
2. To keep policy reserve ratios for new contracts in line with market interest rates, theFSC lowers the 2020 policy reserve ratios for new life insurance contracts in various
currencies
Currently cash discount rate used for setting aside life insurance policy reserve is therate prescribed by the competent authority at the time the policy is underwritten,
which is locked in for the duration of the policy. In a move to assure the stable
operations of life insurers and reflect the downward trends of market interest rates,
the competent authority decides to lower the 2020 policy reserve ratios for newcontracts in NTD, USD, RMB, AUD and Euro by 0.25% ~ 0.5%. This change will
increase the premium burden of policyholders and produce significant impact on thebusiness and finance of insurance companies when they may face premium income
cliff after premium hike.
3.To strengthen the financial structure of insurance companies and bolster their risk
bearing ability, the FSC amends the “Regulations Governing Capital Adequacy of
Insurance Companies” by including shareholder equity ratio into supervisory indicators,
and setting the principles for determining adjusted net capital for the calculation ofcapital adequacy ratio (RBC) when investing in capital-based bonds or debt-basedpreferred stocks issued by insurance companies
In light that shareholder equity ratio is a better measure of an insurance company’s
ability to bear market risk when there is significant volatility in the international
politico-economic situation in a short period of time, the FSC amends the “Regulations
Governing Capital Adequacy of Insurance Companies”, adding a new criterion – theshareholder equity ratio in the most recent two periods to the existing criterion of ratioof adjusted net capital to risk-based capital (capital adequacy ratio RBC). In addition,in consideration that debt-based preferred stocks or capital-based bonds issued byinsurance companies are predominately subscribed by financial enterprises and toreduce systemic risk brought about by major financial crisis, the FSC sets theprinciples for determining adjusted net capital when an insurance company invests incapital-based bonds or debt-based preferred stocks issued by a “domestic insurancecompany” or a “domestic financial holding company” to enhance the quality ofdebt-based preferred stocks or capital-based bonds issued by insurance companies; theprinciples start to apply on November 1, 2019.

The Life Insurance Association of the Republic of China

Japan1. Revision of tax treatments of key person insurance products.
Amidst the strong sales of key person insurance, of which all premiums can be writtenoff, the National Tax Agency reviewed its tax treatment toward this type of insurance
products. Under the new tax treatment, the percentage and duration of premiums
which can be included in deductible expenses are determined in accordance with themaximum surrender value rates, and it made such products extremely difficult to use
as tax-saving measures.
2. Inappropriate sales conducted by a major life insurance company.
A major life insurance company was suspected of engaging in over 12,800 cases of
inappropriate sales violating regulations and company rules. Customers were forced tohave both new and old policies and pay premiums for both in some cases, or in othercases, customers unexpectedly fell into an uninsured situation temporarily whileswitching products such that the contracts that brought disadvantages to customers
became a huge problem.
It is expected that administrative sanctions will be imposed as there were serious
problems in the internal management systems of the insurance company and thegroup companies.
3. Expansion of health promotion insurance products and dementia insurance products.
There appears to be some potential in health promotion and dementia insurance
products in the recent years. The former was launched by one company in January
2019, and the latter will be released by one company in February 2020.
The products feature various additional services such as a service that provideseasy-to-understand advices for health improvement according to current healthconditions through mobile phone app or a service that supports early detection ofdementia or prevention of aggravation of dementia.
Oriental Life Insurance Cultural Development Center