As consumers embrace the digital era, insurers will need to rethink their distribution strategies and partner relationships as digital and remote options are rapidly replacing commonplace functions and tasks. Digital technology can be deployed effectively to accommodate customers’ priorities in ways that would promote customer support and loyalty whilst significantly enhancing the consumer experience and satisfaction. In many ways, the human capital and technology imperatives share characteristics that are borderless. We are living in a globalised world, with significantly greater capital and labour mobility than in any other period in history. For multinational organisations, this enables ideas and innovations to transcend borders and be more easily replicated to great positive effect, to grow successful businesses and transform the economies in which they operate. This is where foreign partners of local entities with international presence have enormous potential to make a significant contribution to the development of local economies. As international entities that actively operate in more developed insurance markets, foreign insurers should bring new and proven systems, technology and experiences which can enhance their domestic operations and benefit the wider economy of the host country. This is the fundamental value of foreign direct investments. We know of successful cases in Europe where digitisation has been transformational, where a higher adoption of straight-through  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  processing, paperless documentation, usage of customer analytics and electronic payments have all led to improved efficiency and higher service value for insurers.

Strategies to seize opportunities in the new horizon Allow me now to turn to some of the key strategic imperatives for the industry going forward. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  First and foremost is the building of strategic and quality human capital. Human capital can be likened to the indispensable crew that you need for your ship to sail. Shortage of quality talent is one of the most important risks facing organisations globally today and the insurance industry is no exception. The Malaysian Insurance Institute, like many other insurance training institutes around the world, ought to expand investments in personnel with the relevant skills and knowledge in particular the ability to adapt and innovate. In today’s environment, training needs to be continuously changed, in some cases overhauled, to maintain its quality and relevance. Central to this is the industry’s collaboration with and support for training institutes. The experience of practitioners who are experts in their field would enrich training programmer considerably. In this regard, the Bank welcomes the efforts of the industry and the Malaysian Insurance Institute to build bridges with academia through practical collaborations that aim to create a ready pool of productive talent. New approaches and programmes could be tailored against proven methodology implemented by some graduate schools. On the part of Bank Negara Malaysia, the recently established Financial Sector Talent Council is collaborating closely with key members of the financial industry to identify issues surrounding talent gaps and formulate innovative proposals to address such gaps.