Insurance and financial services professionals involved with distribution management. This includes agency, bank, and alternative channel heads, heads of recruiting, training managers, and marketing executives.
Closing Keynote Speaker
Eric Tian, Director of Marketing, Nice (the “Instagram of China”) Former Director of Marketing & Partnerships WeChat
Respected marketing executive Eric Tian recently joined Nice, where he leads marketing, public relations, sales, and trade for Nice, the most popular photo social app in China. Eric joined Nice from WeChat, where he led highly-visible marketing efforts and partnerships, including the NBA, LinkedIn, Coca-Cola, eBay, Chanel, Cisco, and the CCTV Lunar New Year’s Gala. Eric previously worked at Nike, where he led brand marketing for their basketball, Jordan, and training lines. He began his career with Li-Ning Sports Goods in Beijing before becoming a senior product manager at their office in Portland, USA.
Highlights
This two-day conference will feature presentations from industry leaders and experts with advanced knowledge of strategy, sales, channel management, and training. The large variety of sessions will help you address your specific challenges, and networking opportunities will allow you to connect with peers throughout the region.
Register early to reserve your seat to hear the latest trends, research, and predictions on:
• Connecting with the Gen Y customer • Introducing and expanding independent agent channels • Strengthening the General Agency channel • Developing Top Sales Managers • Growing sales with social media • Omnichannel sales • Bank-Insurer Collaboration Success Models • Embracing Digital Disruption • And more!
Please continue to check back for more details on the program agenda and speakers as they are finalized!
Scott is a passionate banking innovator with a love of helping people gain better access to their money and the tools to manage it. Along with Movenbank founder Brett King, Scott is challenging the entrenched paradigms of banking with disruptive new mobile services aimed at consumers and emerging markets. He ties the modern trends of social media and mobile services with the age-old business of banking with ease. Scott is a charismatic and knowledgeable speaker, unafraid to challenge the existing financial services industry and banking start-ups alike, and holds the rare gift of possessing technological insight and an understanding of the consumer mindset. He has presented keynote addresses throughout the world and was listed in the OboPay Influencers Report as the number one influencer on Twitter for Mobile Commerce, Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments & Mobile Money.
Marc is Associate Partner (APAC) for leadership advisory and executive search firm Marlin Hawk. He focuses on the Financial Services and Insurance sectors across Asia. He is also responsible for joining up the firm’s global accounts and delivering the same high quality customer experience across all territories. A German national, Marc’s intercontinental executive search experience covers Germany, Central & Eastern Europe and Asia. He has been based in Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong and has placed senior executives throughout the APAC region, including high growth economies such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. He has a track record in discovering C-suite talent across multiple functions and has a particular interest in the impact of digital transformation on future business leadership.
Chief Executive Officer, Group Agency Distribution, AIA Group
Joe Cheng leads AIA Group’s agency distribution system. He formulates the overall strategy that delivers on short- and long-term business objectives. During his 28 years with AIA, Joe has held a number of important roles including General Manager for Macau, General Manager for Shenzhen, and Chief Agency Officer for AIA Hong Kong. Over the past five years, Joe has very successfully led the Premier Agency transformation for AIA Hong Kong and Macau with the launch of AIA Premier Academy, Gen Y Club, and the Revitalisation Programme. These programs have elevated recruitment quality, sales activity, and productivity — and significantly increased the number of MDRT qualifiers. Joe holds a B.A. in Industrial Relations and Economics from The University of Kent at Canterbury, UK. His commitment to others’ success includes acting as a business volunteer in Junior Achievement Hong Kong.
9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.: Wellness Trends, Customer Engagement, and Shared Value
Terrence Cummings, FSA
Head of AIA Vitality, AIA Group
Terry Cummings has over 20 years of international life insurance experience covering Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. He has held senior management positions including Chief Operations Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, and Chief Actuary with major multinational life insurers and consulting firms. Terry’s areas of practice include product development, distribution, marketing, operational efficiency, financial reporting, mergers, acquisitions, and distribution agreements.
10:30 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.: Building an Agency from the Ground Up
James DeLong, LUTCF, CLTC
Regional Director, Agency & Broker
Distribution, Asia
, Ageas Insurance International
James DeLong has a broad range of leadership experiences in all aspects of insurance distribution, marketing, product development, and financial P&L management. This includes direct experience restructuring agency distribution and other channels, corporate business consulting, and training and development. He has held a variety of senior positions in life, retirement, and general insurance operating companies within Asia and the U.S., including Chief Commercial Officer for AIG New Zealand; Regional Director of Group & Employee Benefits, Individual Medical & Credit Life, for AIG; and Vice President, Financial Securities & Insurance Distribution, for Allstate Insurance Company. Based in Asia since 2002, James has led and developed distribution channels in numerous countries throughout the region.
9:45 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.: Managing the Future: Insurance Regulation
Jonathan Goacher
Partner, DWF LLP
Jonathan Goacher leads the corporate insurance practice in Asia for DWF LLP, an award-wining legal business with 27 offices across four continents and 2,800+ staff. He has over fifteen years of experience at leading international law firms, advising life and non-life insurers & reinsurers, insurance brokerages & agents, loss adjusters and other insurance organizations on how to start and conduct business in Asia. His practice deals with matters such as business establishment, joint ventures, public and private mergers & acquisitions, complex corporate reorganizations, capital and solvency requirements, portfolio transfers, reinsurance, currency controls, sanctions and regulation of cross-border insurance business. Jonathan began his legal career in the United Kingdom and he is also a licensed attorney in New York.
John Huynh heads the Delivery and Services team for EAB Systems, a leading enterprise software company in the Asia Pacific. He and his team help companies accelerate product introductions to markets, enhance distribution capabilities, and automate administration processes. For the past decade, John has focused on business process improvements and system solution implementations for the life insurance industry. He leads business analyses and feasibility studies for large enterprise resource planning (ERP) projects that integrate applications, improve business management, and automate back office functions. He has held senior business analyst, project management, and consulting roles for CLDS, Ageas, AXA, IBM, PwC, Zurich Financial, and Suncorp.
Andy Khoo is an international life insurance professional with extensive experience leading corporate growth strategies, improving agency productivity, and growing company profitability. At LIMRA, he leads one of the world’s largest training and development resources for life insurance and financial services companies. Andy helps members assess their situation, develop a strategic response, and execute at all levels of their organization and across national boundaries. He is also the driving force behind LIMRA’s new Gen Y Seminar Series, which helps managers attract, engage, and retain a new generation of producers. Previously, Andy was Vice President of Field Management Development at AIG’s worldwide life agency head office in New York. He led initiatives that improved agent and agency manager performance in more than 50 countries. Andy’s career with AIG and its AIA subsidiaries in Asia and U.S. included living and working in four different countries, and developing and leading multicultural teams.
1:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.: A Successful Omnichannel Sales Approach
Valér Merenyi, MBA, MSc
Regional Director, Digital Strategy and Solutions, Asia, Ageas Insurance International
Valer Merenyi is a seasoned digital business builder and financial services executive with 20 years of experience in strategic projects and programs in retail banking, corporate banking, and insurance. He has held a number of senior positions in financial services and consulting companies across Asia and Europe, often with a significant responsibility for IT and/or change initiatives. Over the past few years Valer has led the front office transformation program of a UK bank's international wealth business, built a robo-adviser proposition for a German direct bank, and initiated and ran the Intelligent Assistant program of a Dutch retail bank. Back in Asia since May 2016, Valer is leading Ageas' digital efforts across various channels and 7 countries.
Executive Director, Regional Bancassurance, DBS Bank
Fabian Ng recently joined DBS Group to lead all General Insurance distribution channels for Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, India, and Taiwan. He is focused on bringing in new technologies and lead allocation models to improve productivity. Fabian’s long career in insurance and financial services began with AIA Singapore and has included senior leadership roles with AIG, its subsidiaries AIA and ALICO, Ernst & Young, Great Eastern Life, ReMark Asia Pacific, and UOB Bank. At these companies, he has led successful distribution channel startups and greatly expanded sales through existing channels, including agency, bancassurance, direct, and worksite.
CEO, RGA Korea & CMO, RGA Asia, RGA Reinsurance Company Korea Branch
Michael Shin is Chief Executive Officer, RGA Korea, and Senior Vice President, RGA Hong Kong, with executive oversight responsibility for all of RGA’s business activities in South Korea and Hong Kong. He is also Chief Marketing Officer for RGA Asia, with responsibility for all marketing activities in RGA’s Asia Pacific region. His insurance industry experience spans nearly three decades. Prior to joining RGA in 2011, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Distribution Officer of New York Life Korea (now ACE Life), where his duties included being Head of Agency Distribution, Marketing, Product Design and Corporate Communication. He was also with Samsung Life Insurance South Korea, where he was Corporate Vice President, Channel Strategy and Planning, and Senior Vice President and Chief of Advisors and Financial Planning Center. Earlier, he spent more than 15 years with Prudential Financial Insurance, where he was Managing Director for the Asia market. Michael received a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in economics and international business from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
FinTech Thought Leader Spokesperson, IBM Risk and Investment Analytics
Paolo Sironi is a recognized author of portfolio management and financial innovation. In his current role he links strategic innovation in Finance and Technology, demonstrating international expertise in Wealth and Asset Management, Risk Management, Trading and Technology. A pioneer in understanding the practical implications of AI and FinTech digitalization to manage institutional risks and personal wealth, he founded a FinTech joint-venture (2008) to integrate investment management and Goal Based Investing principles. The company became a part of IBM (2012) following the acquisition of funding partner Algorithmics, a world leader of risk management architectures. Paolo has a decade-long quantitative expertise; he was previously head of market and counterparty risk modeling at Banca Intesa Sanpaolo. Author of “FinTech Innovation: from Robo-Advisors to Goal Based Investing and Gamification”, “Modern Portfolio Management: From Markowitz to Probabilistic Scenario Optimisation”, and co-author of “The FinTech Book”. Paolo’s posts can be read on LinkedIn, Twitter @thepsironi or his personal website thepsironi.com.
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.: Panel: The Digital Advisor Journey
Jason Suen
Managing Director, APAC, Hearsay Social
Jason is responsible for Hearsay Social’s business across Asia-Pacific where he serves the fast-growing and diverse needs of customers in the region. Jason was an early member of Hearsay Social’s Customer Success team, where he led the growth and scaling of the team globally. He also drove some of Hearsay Social’s largest deployments in partnership with its clients. Prior to joining Hearsay Social, Jason spent four years in Salesforce.com’s Customer Success organization working with clients spanning the mid-market to the Fortune 500. His background includes financial services at Royal Bank of Canada and entrepreneurial work as the co-founder of a successful online media startup in 2006. Jason is an Honours Bachelor of Commerce graduate from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.: Panel: The Digital Advisor Journey
Hugh Terry
Founder, The Digital Insurer
Hugh Terry is an experienced insurance professional with more than 20 years’ experience in the Asia Pacific region covering insurance companies, business consulting, and successful set-ups and exits from his own businesses. As the Founder of The Digital Insurer, the world’s largest knowledge community of more than 30,000 professionals interested in working together to accelerate the digital transformation of insurance, Hugh’s personal business objective is to help insurance and technology companies create and execute innovative business development strategies. Central to this is to anticipate and leverage trends in digital technologies, as these are having a profound impact on existing business models as well as opening up new opportunities. Hugh is an actuary by profession.
Director of Marketing, Nice (the “Instagram
of China”) and Former Director of Marketing & Partnerships
WeChat, Nice
Respected marketing executive Eric Tian recently joined Nice, where he leads marketing, public relations, sales, and trade for Nice, the most popular photo social app in China. Eric joined Nice from WeChat, where he led highly-visible marketing efforts and partnerships, including the NBA, LinkedIn, Coca-Cola, eBay, Chanel, Cisco, and the CCTV Lunar New Year’s Gala. Eric previously worked at Nike, where he led brand marketing for their basketball, Jordan, and training lines. He began his career with Li-Ning Sports Goods in Beijing before becoming a senior product manager at their office in Portland, USA.
Co-Founder and Executive Director, C2L BIZ Solutions
Over 2+ decades of experience in Insurance domain across Asia, his
expertise lies in successfully engaging with Insurers for their distribution
transformation programs and digital initiatives. In recent years, he has
championed various initiatives with the leading global insurers in Asia for
Digital Distribution and Core Operational Process Transformations. He has
an engineering degree and is a post-graduate in management (Marketing). As
one of the Co-founder & Executive Directors of C2L BIZ, he is responsible
for Sales & Marketing, Business Growth and Managing Customer Relationships.
He is a speaker and thought leader in various industry fora and summits.
Senior Vice President and Managing Director, International Operations, LIMRA and LOMA
Ian Watts leads the LIMRA and LOMA operations that help member companies in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East achieve their business objectives. Prior to joining LIMRA and LOMA in 2013, he was Global COO at ACE Life International, where he was responsible for their day-to-day operations and new business development. He has held CEO positions in India and China for AIG and AIA, and has extensive global experience in the UK, EMEA and Latin America.
11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: Developing Top Agency Managers
Marcus Wong
Senior District Director, AIA International Group
Marcus
Wong has been a financial planner for AIA International Limited since 1997. He
has won numerous management awards from GAMA including their prestigious
Frontline Leader Award, International Management Award, Best Growth Award, and
Master Agency Award. He is a life member of MDRT and a founder and Team Builder
of a “Round Table Family”, with 4 districts, 300 agents, and an average of 30
Million US Dollars FYP per year.
Scott Bales thrives on the intersection between cultural and behavioral changed in the face of technology innovations. Previously Chief Mobile Officer for Moven, the world's first-ever digital everyday bank, he has successfully meshed his fascination with people and what motivates them, with a raw enthusiasm for technology.
Scott has worked with insurance and reinsurance companies on their innovation agendas, and understands the challenges our industry faces — especially in distribution. He recognizes that an insurer’s dependency on agency and bancassurance means they have only a second-tier relationship with policy holders. He knows that Google’s and WeChat’s recent acquisition of broker licenses means they plan to further disrupt insurance distribution. But out of challenge comes opportunity! Scott is on a mobile technology mission to transform mainstream thought processing around conventional business practices and help companies reengineer their products to better suit the Consumer of 2023.
Regional Director, Agency & Broker
Distribution, Asia
, Ageas Insurance International
What is the most effective way to grow a new agency to generate expected revenue? What types of modifications must be made to existing models to work in other markets? Join this session to hear firsthand how Ageas Insurance International has successfully entered into new markets, inclusive of the process they follow, notable challenges and surprises they have encountered along the way, and the lessons learned once everything was complete and they were able to review and reflect on the results.
This session will present a field perspective on the challenges and opportunities of developing top agency managers. Marcus Wong, a Senior District Director with a force of over 300 agents, will explain how he has built up a successful infrastructure to manage and coach his team to become premier agents. He will also identify how AIA has supported him from the home office to ensure he had the skills and tools that were necessary to build up such a successful career.
Ian Watts will discuss key differences between today’s GA and Managerial distribution systems, then explore: • Data trends for GA and Managerial systems • Changing regulations for agents to become independent • Elements of field management compensation • GA company practices
Regional Director, Digital Strategy and Solutions, Asia, Ageas Insurance International
This practical case study presentation will provide an inside look on how to successfully manage an omnichannel sales approach. Areas of discussion will include lead generation, revenue share models, and exactly how roboadvisors might fit into the future of sales. Attendees will leave with a better sense of how to manage a multi-channel approach, while still providing excellent customer service.
While bancassurance has steadily gained market share, challenges remain with sustaining productivity gains and deploying technology to help. As more customers prefer online and mobile, branch walk-in volume will continue to decline and banks must rethink their campaign design and execution strategies to ensure they are supplying the salesforce with enough quality leads to. Against this backdrop, banks must also deal with the continuous challenges of recruitment, training and exceeding customer expectation. Join this session to understand why all these items make it more important than ever for banks and insurers must collaborate for the “velocity” needed gain a competitive edge.
CEO, RGA Korea & CMO, RGA Asia, RGA Reinsurance Company Korea Branch
Marc Baloch
Associate
Partner (APAC), Marlin Hawk
This panel presentation will be a multi-perspective showcase of what insurers and banks are doing to develop and grow their advisors. Discussion items will include how to develop an MDRT culture, trustworthy selling techniques, and various training initiatives that can help advisors add value to their sales approach and excel in the areas of productivity, retention, case size, and professionalism.
All registered participants are welcome to join us for a Dinner Cruise on Thursday evening, 17 November, following the conference sessions. Spend the evening discussing the sessions from earlier in the day, mingling with other attendees, and enjoying dinner and drinks as we cruise down the Chao Phraya River.
Terry Cummings will join us
to discuss the impact of lifestyle trends on insurance risk and the opportunity
to engage customers and create shared value through insurer wellness
programmes. Terry will also discuss how insurers and distributors can leverage
technology and data to provide superior value to customers.
Staying on top of new regulations and regulatory trends is critical in determining how an organization can develop business and innovate. This session will consider where regulatory trends on distribution have headed and provide insights on what the future focus of regulators and lawmakers could be.
Gone are the days when simply providing policies was enough. The world has gone digital, and social and mobile technology has changed consumer expectations as well as how advisors must deal with them. This group of executives will share what they are doing to help advisors respond to these marketplace changes, inclusive of modifications to product design, implementing big data and relationship building tools, and ways in which advisors can use these new digital disruptions to drive customer centricity.
How will cognitive automation, gamification and Robo-Advisors impact the way the advisor of the future does business, and what does that mean to you and your company? This discussion will cover how FinTech innovation can be used to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and risk assessment to speed up the sales process and increase customer satisfaction.
Our digital world continually changes the ways
people connect with people, services, and things. The scope, speed, and depth
of these changes are happening faster than most business leaders can react.
What changes are reaching a tipping point and disrupting your online and
offline business models? Eric will share his observations from China and around
the world.
3:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Closing
Registration
Registration Fees: LIMRA and/or LOMA Member: $US 1,195 Nonmember: US$1,695
Cancellation Policy All cancellations and refund requests must be received in writing. These requests carry a $100.00 U.S. administrative charge. Full refunds minus the administrative fee will be granted on written requests received no later than ten business days before the meeting. No refunds will be granted if the request is received within ten business days of the meeting. If for any reason a meeting is cancelled, the Conference Organizers will refund the total registration fee. However, the Conference Organizers will not be responsible for any travel, hotel accommodations or other costs incurred. Cancellation requests should be submitted to meetings@loma.org.
These rates include a 10% service charge and government tax.
The special conference group rates are available 3 days before and 3 days after the meeting dates, and include:
Daily buffet breakfast
Guaranteed river view room
High speed internet access in guest room (up to 4 devises)
Complimentary welcome drink during check-in
Welcome fruits in room and complimentary drinking water
Complimentary coffee/tee making facility in room
Complimentary use of sauna and high-tech gym facilities
3 pm check-in time and 12 noon check-out time.
Cut-off date: October 14, 2016 Reservation requests received after 14 October, 2016 will only be accepted on space availability, so be sure to book your rooms before this date!
Some participants may need a visa to enter Thailand. Visa invitations will be issued to only paid conference registrants. To request an invitation please contact Ms. Megan Schwartz at mschwartz@limra.com.
Become a Sponsor or Exhibitor
As two 90-year-old trade associations with over 1,200 member companies in more than 70 countries, LIMRA and LOMA Conferences are made possible by the generosity of our sponsors and exhibitors. Sponsorship of the LIMRA/LOMA Asia Distribution Conference will help increase name recognition, build product and service awareness, and provide valuable networking opportunities to several hundred key decision-makers in the banking and insurance industry across Asia. All sponsorships (excluding program advertisements) include the following benefits:
Company name displayed on signage.
Acknowledgement of sponsorship in registration brochure and program guide.
Sponsor logo posted on the LIMRA and the LOMA event websites with link to sponsor website.
Inclusion of one company brochure in the welcome packet that is given to all attendees at registration.
Advanced delegate list sent via email one week prior to event date.
Due to limited availability, sponsorships will sell out quickly. Applications will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis. Please email Megan Schwartz at mschwartz@limra.com or call +1 (860) 298-3929 for additional information.
