tharman shanmugaratnam : the evolving role of insurance in singapore speech by mr tharman shanmugaratnam, chairman of the monetary authority of singapore, at the launch of prudential's new office, singapore, 7 november 2017. * * * mr mike wells, group ceo, prudential plc mr kai nargolwala, chairman, prudential corporation asia mr nic nicandrou, ceo, prudential corporation asia mr wilf blackburn, ceo, prudential assurance company singapore ladies and gentlemen 1. thank you for inviting me to join you. let me begin by congratulating prudential on the opening of its new office at marina one. 2. it is another milestone in prudential ’ s long journey with singapore, having started out as an agent for fire insurance in singapore in 1924, and opening its first full branch in 1931. its first life policy, issued to a percy robert campbell, was a 15 - year policy which would mature for the sum of $ 6190. today, prudential serves over 900, 000 customers here, and the average maturity value of a prudential life insurance policy in singapore is just over s $ 50, 000. 3. prudential has indeed grown with singapore. its total sum assured in singapore has grown to s $ 147 billion in 2016, and it currently employs over a thousand staff and works with more than 4500 financial consultants. opportunity in asia ’ s demographic and digital transitions 4. prudential, as with its counterparts in the life insurance industry, is increasingly focused on deepening its footprint in asia. the opportunities are immense, and the basic reasons for this are well recognised. 5. asia is experiencing momentous demographic change. it will be home to 60 % of those aged over 65 worldwide by 2030, with countries in east asia leading the way. this will place great demands on healthcare and retirement solutions, beyond the universal or mandatory schemes that governments put in place in many countries. 6. in the other parts of asia where populations are still youthful – such as india and parts of asean – insurance penetration remains low and has huge potential to grow. 7. equally important, asia is rapidly digitising. 330 million people bought insurance products online in china in 2016. in singapore, a few of the bigger life insurers have offered online life insurance purchase for some products and two fully online life insurers have emerged over the past two years. enabling customers

( brookings. edu ) and enhancing liquidity of the u. s. treasury market under stress ). 6. which gave defined benefit pension schemes leveraged exposure to gilt yields, hedging against upside risks to liability values in a low - interest rate world, while freeing up space for the schemes to hold riskier, higher - yielding but less liquid assets. 7. https : / / committees. parliament. uk / publications / 30129 / documents / 174330 / default /. in the event, the ldi operations returned revenue of £3. 8bn to the uk government. but positive returns cannot be guaranteed from such operations, and would not have arisen, e. g. if there had been a persistent and material rise in underlying gilt yields during the purchase operations, for unrelated reasons. 8. see for instance : risks from leverage : how did a small corner of the pensions industry threaten financial stability? − speech by sarah breeden | bank of england ; bank of england confirms details of emergency bond buying in correspondence with treasury committee - committees - uk parliament ; and https : / / committees. parliament. uk / publications / 30347 / documents / 175455 / default / 9. financial stability report - december 2022 | bank of england ; 10. the fsb ’ s work in this area is brought together here : non - bank financial intermediation - financial stability board ( fsb. org ) 11. the bank ’ s broader approach to market intelligence gathering is described here : navigating market signals : maps for policy makers – remarks by andrea rosen | bank of england 12. see bank of england market operations guide : our tools | bank of england – extended further through the introduction of the temporary expanded collateral repo facility - market notice 10 october 2022 | bank of england during the ldi episode. 13. in addition, several of the banks were counterparties to the repo or derivatives trades backing the ldi structures, so were facing the potential of having to take delivery, and dispose of, gilt collateral if ldi funds defaulted. 14. see for instance : canada : contingent term repo facility ( yale. edu ) and covid - 19 crisis : liquidity management at canada ’ s largest public pension funds ( bankofcanada. ca ) 15. monetary policy and financial stability interventions in difficult times − speech by andrew bailey | bank of england 16. some have suggested that separation could have been further assured by steril