Of significance is that the global insurance industry on the whole has remained resilient throughout the current financial crisis. The overall aggregate financial position of insurers in the crisis affected countries have continued to be strong, and generally not severely affected by liquidity pressures or exposures in the credit derivatives markets. Earlier losses by insurers in financial market activities had resulted in a shift to "back-to-basics" models, focusing on core underwriting business instead of heavily relying on investments as the main source of earnings. The industry had also benefited from the subsequent upturn in the pricing cycle which has fortified the capital position of insurers and provided the support to maintaining sound underwriting standards. These conditions have placed the industry on a much stronger position to withstand the challenges emanating from this global financial turmoil. BIS Review 131/2009  1  Domestic and external conditions are however expected to remain volatile for some time. Significant uncertainties will persist in the international financial markets and the broader global economic conditions. These conditions will continue to pose significant challenges to the insurance industry. In this environment, maintaining strong capital buffers and sound risk management is even more imperative to ensuring the continued resilience of the insurance industry. With the adoption of Solvency II in Europe and its influence on solvency regimes in other jurisdictions, more countries, including Malaysia, have now moved to adopt more riskaligned capital regimes.

At stake is our ability to preserve public confidence in the financial system, and seize an unprecedented opportunity to come within striking distance of at least six of the Sustainable Development Goals: no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality and reducing inequality. This Conference, themed “Empowering financial consumers in the digital age”, aims to help us untangle and develop sensible responses to the myriad of issues associated with the rapid digitalisation of financial services. Digital financial services adoption in Asia-Pacific The financial services industry has long been at the forefront of the digital revolution, benefitting from efficiency gains, cost savings and wider outreach. For traditional financial institutions, it has also been a matter of survival against an onslaught of highly innovative and nimbler competitors. In recent years, industry players – both traditional and non-traditional – have rapidly scaled up their use of technology to create better customer experiences by making financial products and services more accessible, flexible and competitive. As adoption rates rise, online banking, e-insurance and e-payments are quickly approaching a tipping point at which they will eclipse physical branches, ATMs and cash as conduits for financial transactions. In some markets, this is already a reality. It has been reported that nearly two-thirds of consumers in the Asia-Pacific region are active fintech users. The adoption rates are even higher in trailblazer markets such as China and India, where the share of active fintech users is estimated to be about 87%.