, asia and the pacific will be home to 62 % of the world ’ s elderly population, with one in four persons aged 60 and above. this will lead to greater demand for health insurance, annuity and other retirement security products. bis central bankers ’ speeches as the leading insurance centre in asia, singapore is well - placed to serve the burgeoning insurance needs of the region. the insurance industry is one of the brightest stars in the constellation of singapore ’ s financial sector. the industry has done remarkably well, but its story is not well known. i want to briefly sketch the journey of singapore ’ s insurance industry from writing pure domestic risks to becoming a regional underwriting hub in just ten years. i will then share our vision and strategies for the next phase of the industry ’ s growth – to become a global insurance marketplace at the heart of asia. the journey to a regional underwriting hub in the early days, the singapore insurance industry was focused on servicing domestic business, with life insurance being the mainstay. in fact, mas had adopted a closed - door policy to direct insurers since 1990. in 2000, mas liberalised the insurance industry, lifting the closed - door policy on direct insurers and the 49 % foreign shareholding limit in locally owned direct insurers. singapore ’ s development as a regional insurance hub took off. • since 2000, offshore business has been on a steady uptrend, growing an average of 13 % per annum to us $ 5. 4bn in 2012. the share of offshore non - life business has increased from 50 % in 2000 to 65 % in 2012. • major insurance groups across different segments of the industry, from direct insurers to reinsurers and brokers, have sited their regional operating and business hubs here. today, singapore is recognised as the leading reinsurance hub in asia. amongst the top 25 reinsurers in the world, 16 have regional hubs here. the market has built up significant expertise in specialty insurance, namely marine, energy, catastrophe, credit and political risks. for example, singapore is the second largest market for structured credit and political risk worldwide after london. the number of global and regional positions in singapore has grown. most underwriting decisions can be made on the ground instead of being referred back to headquarters. this has enabled the singapore market to respond more quickly to clients ’ needs. most asian risks, including entire large reinsurance programmes and specialty risks, can now be fully placed

the opportunity to stress - test their systems, assess the responsiveness of existing coverage to losses, and gain an appreciation of potential losses and the need for cyber insurance cover. promote asian demand next, we want to promote insurance demand in asia. asia is already leading the world in premium growth. we seek to catalyse the development of insurance demand in the region via a three - pronged approach. first, enhancing cross - border access to regional markets. the asean economies are working together on a comprehensive insurance liberalisation framework. • we aspire to achieve substantial liberalisation by 2020 for all insurance sub - sectors, namely life insurance, non - life insurance, reinsurance and retrocession, insurance intermediation, and insurance auxiliary services. • insurers can expect to benefit from easier cross - border provision of services and substantial access across the asean customer base from offices in any asean member country. • the framework is expected to be discussed at the asean finance ministers ’ meeting next year. second, increasing the pool of asian risk data. modelling and loss simulation are key tools to help insurers manage and price their exposures. accurate and timely data are critical for risk models to predict the impact of a loss event. for example, to predict the vulnerability of an insured risk to catastrophes, a wide variety of data is required, such as geographic location, bis central bankers ’ speeches soil structures, rainfall, construction materials and urban density, just to name a few. however, there is a severe paucity of data on asian risks. singapore is addressing this gap by setting up several research institutions to gather and analyse data in specific areas of risks. • for example, the institute of catastrophe risk management ( icrm ) at the nanyang technological university is currently undertaking research projects for flood and earthquake risk assessment in selected asian cities. • in addition to collecting and analysing the data, icrm conducts on - site studies and risk assessments of the cities in question, and develops hazard maps and risk models. • to ensure that its research is relevant to the industry, icrm actively reaches out to industry players through seminars and workshops. third, increasing risk awareness. mas supports efforts to raise risk management awareness in the region. • i am pleased to note that asia ’ s first association for risk managers, the pan - asian risk and insurance management association ( parima ), was set up in singapore in april, with strong support from the insurance industry. • as a platform for