TRAINING, TECH, AND TRUST: Supporting F2F in a Digital World
3/15/2023 - 3/17/2023
Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand
Overview
Who Attends
The 2023 Strategic Issues Conference will engage senior leadership from life insurance companies and banks doing business throughout the Asia-Pacific region. They join to learn and network with each other as well as various subject matter experts, government officials and leading academics that speak on the latest developments in distribution, training and corporate management.
Highlights
POSTPONED – New Dates coming soon! Please join us in Bangkok to examine top-of-mind issues affecting the insurance and bancassurance industry in Asia. Following the theme, TRAINING, TECH, AND TRUST:Supporting F2F in a Digital World, attendees will discuss key strategic areas driving market success as well as have a unique opportunity to meet with peers, industry analysts, and regulators about what it takes to succeed in today’s business environment.
Attendees will have the opportunity to:
Discuss how and why F2F will continue to play such a critical role in future distribution and talent acquisition, retention and training strategies, as well as better understand what they can do to create actionable solutions to address this ongoing need for a human connection.
Hear from experts and industry leaders as they speak to today’s top strategic trends and innovations in both the life insurance and bancassurance space.
Connect with peers across a multi-day experience that includes plenty of time for networking and supplementary meetings.
Interpretation Services
This conference will be presented in English. Interpretation into Mandarin, Korean, and Thai will be offered if requested by 16 or more registered attendees prior to 1 February, 2023.
Steve Dawson is the owner of Coach – Steve Dawson, a group of companies registered in Singapore and Hong Kong. He coaches corporate people to present their knowledge, data and innovations in boardrooms, ballrooms, on social media platforms, online and on TV. He has been the face of football, mixed martial arts and general sports news throughout Asia, anchoring the premium content at ESPN, Star Sports and Fox Sports since 2004. Steve Dawson is a British citizen, resident in Singapore since 1994, is a chartered tax accountant and has a BA Hons., in Economics & Public Administration from the University of London. Steve is also the author of three books including most recently Locker Room Talk – A Guide to Political Correctness in the Public Domain.
Regional Director of Partnership Distribution, AIA Group Ltd.
Calvin Foo is an Insurance Distribution Expert & author of #DoTF (Distribution of the Future). With 3 decades of insurance & banking experience, he has trained, coached & mentored more than 20,000 CAOs, CPDOs, distribution leaders & professionals. His successes in multiple financial services industries include Life Insurance (Agency, Bancassurance, Broker, HNW), General Insurance (Accident & Health, Worksite Marketing) & Private Banking (Life Insurance). He is also skilled in multiple disciplines including strategy development, channel & sales management & capability development across 15 markets in Asia-Pacific.
International Head of Distribution Development, LIMRA
Rick Funke consults with financial services executives around the world to help them boost profitability by improving sales force effectiveness. With his help, companies maximize the return on their agent recruiting and selection investment — and grow their sales force — by applying competency-based best practices for recruiting, selecting, and retaining top performers. Rick also has extensive experience facilitating and delivering training to agency managers that helps them improve agent professionalism and productivity. Rick is a well-known industry speaker who has presented at many conferences, including GAMA’s LAMP Conference, NAIFA’s Career Conference and Annual Meeting, LIMRA’s Annual Conference, and numerous company meetings.
Human Connection Specialist and Best-Selling Author
Simone Heng is a human connection specialist and former international broadcaster for Virgin Radio Dubai, HBO Asia, and CNBC, among others. She is one of the youngest accredited certified speaking professionals in the world. With over 20 years of experience around the globe as a communicator on-air, on stage, and one-on-one, connection has always been her life’s work. As a speaker, Simone inspires people to connect in a world thirsty for connection. She has spoken to audiences of thousands and for clients that include Facebook/Meta, Google, Lucasfilm, Adobe, UBS, Salesforce, SAP, TEDx, SXSW and The United Nations. Simone and her work have been featured in Forbes, Vogue, Elle, South China Morning Post, CNN, and many more. Simone’s debut book on human connection, “Secret Pandemic: The Search for Connection in a Lonely World” is a Singaporean bestseller as well as an Amazon US Number 1 bestseller in the Social Science Reference category.
Alex helps lead McKinsey’s insurance work by providing expertise as well as building go-to-market assets and capabilities to drive client impact. He collaborates with executives at multinational corporations and regional organizations on strategy and growth programs, product innovation and distribution performance, digital and analytic transformations, and technology and capability building. His recent client work includes helping transform operations and portfolios, developing high-performance productivity improvement initiatives, defining global post COVID-19 strategies and business builds, and developing digital, analytics, and ecosystem strategies. Prior to joining McKinsey, Alex worked in investment banking and management consulting; he also held C-suite positions at global insurance firms where he worked across life and retirement, property and casualty, and health insurance businesses. He also helped execute large transactions and structuring activities across the region such as portfolio acquisitions, partnerships, joint ventures, carve-outs, and divestments. With a more recent focus on digital innovation, he helps lead efforts to build new insurance business models and chaired the digital innovation roundtable of a central bank and financial regulatory authority in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Over the years, Alex has also served on several boards across Asia. Alex is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, regularly judges at fintech competitions, is the host of the McKinsey on Insurance podcast, and frequently publishes on innovation and transformation topics.
Nick leads the research and innovation of FWD Thailand's dedicated Business Training Center (BTC), which supports internal distribution and substantial external business partners across the country. He has over 20 years of learning & development experience across Southeast Asia and previously worked in senior distribution roles at some of the leading Asian insurers.
Nick believes that it is important for learning & development to play its part as an integral element of business strategy with appropriate investment incorporating the newest technology, ideas, techniques and methods. At FWD, he is passionate about cultivating a unique learning ecosystem for distinct theories, methodologies and continual education that ensures all representatives have the competence and confidence to build relationships and advise life choice solutions to their customers.
Partner, Global Head of Insurance, Member of the Board, Simon-Kucher & Partners
Over the last 15 years, Dr. Schmidt-Gallas has gained extensive international consulting experience from consulting projects in 40 countries worldwide. His clients include leading insurance companies that contact him for his expert advice on strategy, pricing, sales and product optimization. Dr. Schmidt-Gallas has worked in all channels in all major lines in primary insurance and reinsurance, from retail to corporate. He has authored and co-authored numerous books and articles on the topics of strategy, pricing and sales and is a regular speaker at leading domestic and international conferences.
Dr. Schmidt-Gallas studied business administration at the University of Mainz focusing on marketing and finance/risk management. In collaboration with the Deutsche Bank, he wrote his dissertation on strategic product design. For this he was able to use the knowledge he had gained from a research assignment at Yale University (USA ).
Partner, Financial Services, Strategy and Transactions, EY Parthenon
With over 30 years of experience Simon specializes on providing strategy and distribution consulting support to life insurers, non-life insurers, health insurers, banks and other intermediaries across Southeast Asia. Prior to joining EY, he held C-suite roles with MNCs across the UK, Europe and Asia, covering agency, bancassurance, corporate solutions, partnerships and the training academy. Simon is a passionate strategic distribution leader with a proven track record in the insurance and banking sector. A strong motivator at all levels, Simon is driven by delighting customers and has a focus for digital transformation. He is a strong believer in sharing his experience with the insurance community and educating clients across Southeast Asia on the importance of protecting customers and offering accessible solutions.
James is a Partner and Distribution Leader at Deloitte Consulting in Southeast Asia with more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining Deloitte Consulting, James has held various senior leadership positions within the insurance and banking sectors across Asia, Europe and the United States, including Chief Executive Officer of Tokio Marine Life Singapore and Managing Director of Friends Provident International. He was also previously a director for several boards and an approved person by regulators in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Isle of Man and Luxembourg. James is a recipient of the IBF Fellows Award in Life Insurance 2017 in recognition of his thought leadership and commitment to advancing the insurance industry.
International Head of Bancassurance and Regional CEO, South Asia, LIMRA and LOMA
Darren Thomson joined LIMRA and LOMA in 2022 as Regional CEO, South Asia, where his deep knowledge of the agency and banca channels will help to guide the business in Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. In addition, he also serves as the International Head of Bancassurance where he provides subject matter expertise and leadership for the Banca channel globally. Prior to joining LIMRA and LOMA, Darren was on secondment to AIA Thailand in a number of strategy and advisory roles, positions he assumed after serving in AIA Group Office positions in the Strategy & Corporate Development Department of AIA Group Office, CEO of Group Partnership Distribution, and Regional Head of Business Development & Special Projects.
Before joining AIA, Darren also held senior positions at other leading financial services institutions in the United Kingdom and Asia, including Regional Head of Strategic Channel Development at Manulife Financial and the Regional Head of Partnership Distribution and Wealth Management in Manulife Hong Kong; President and CEO at Manulife (Singapore) Pte., Ltd; Chairman and founder Manulife Asset Management Singapore; Chief Partnership Distribution Officer at Prudential Assurance Company in Hong Kong; Regional Head of Bancassurance Prudential Assurance Asia and Regional Executive at Prudential Assurance Company, UK. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF Singapore), received a Master Financial Controller Diploma from the American Academy of Financial Management, and is a past Vice President and President of the Life Insurance Association Singapore.
Director of Group Health & Wellness Transformation , AIA Group
Christian Wards is AIA’s Director of Group Health & Wellness Transformation, leading the development of a differentiated customer health & wellness journey from payer to partner, embedding value-based healthcare, integrated out-of-hospital health provision, compelling health & wellness ecosystem services and improved customer experience across the Asia-Pacific region. Christian has over 20 years of international experience in healthcare from across the health insurance, healthcare provision and health service sectors in a wide number of geographies including North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Prior to joining AIA in 2015, Christian was Managing Director of Bupa’s health insurance business in Hong Kong. Earlier in his career, Christian practised medicine in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. He has a Master of Business Administration, Postgraduate Diplomas in Marketing & Hyperbaric (Diving) Medicine, Bachelors of Medicine & Surgery and a Bachelor of Human Biology.
Gordon is Chief Executive Officer of AXA Asia & Africa, responsible for the operations of 18 markets in Asia, Africa and select Middle East markets, as well as AXA Emerging Customers, a unit focusing on addressing the insurance needs of the low-income to mass market segments. Before joining AXA, he was the Regional Chief Executive of AIA, overseeing the development of key markets in Asia. A driven and ambitious leader, Gordon held a number of key senior roles in AIG/AIA spanning multiple continents and cities, including New York, London, Nairobi, Dubai, Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong. While he focused on expanding the businesses, cultivating a winning culture with his teams was always the priority, which was critical to the strong business performance. Gordon believes profit and purpose should be consistent and convergent, creating both business and social success. As the founding Chair of Shared Value Initiative Hong Kong, he has been working with like-minded senior leaders from various industries to help private companies create economic value while addressing social or environmental issues. Mental health at the workplace is one of the social issues Gordon is very passionate about, and in his capacity as vice chair of the Global Guiding Council of One Mind at Work, he is spearheading the development of the Mental Health at Work Index together with Columbia University and Ethisphere. The objective is to set the standards for a “good mental health program” in the workplace.
Managing Partner, Head of Insurance Asia, Singapore office, Simon-Kucher & Partners
Jan Weiser has more than 15 years of consulting experience and heads Simon-Kucher’s insurance practice in Asia. Jan helps clients in developing product, sales, digital and transformation strategies as well as systems, tools and apps. Within Simon-Kucher Jan is a specialist for key account management and big deal price negotiations. He is the co-developer of Simon-Kucher's value-pricing tool and methodology ComStrat. He has led >75 insurance and insurtech projects in Asia, covering all products and channels in Life and General Insurance. Among his clients are large MNCs as well as local insurers and insurtech firms. Originally from Hamburg, Germany, Jan has been based in Simon-Kucher’s offices in Bonn, Frankfurt, San Francisco and Singapore. He is a regular speaker at insurance events, conferences and universities.
Partner, Global Head of Insurance, Member of the Board, Simon-Kucher & Partners
Jan Weiser
Managing Partner, Head of Insurance Asia, Singapore office, Simon-Kucher & Partners
Join Dr. Dirk Schmidt-Gallas and Jan Weiser as they explore how to use digital innovations to support traditional face-to-face selling. Using observations from several Simon-Kucher & Partners’ global projects they will share key success factors for designing a seamless omnichannel journey, as well as common pitfalls to avoid. Attendees will also receive insights on how to leverage digital support to combine the best of the modern and traditional words to maximize conversion, drive agent productivity, and improve compliance.
International Head of Distribution Development, LIMRA
It’s no longer a question of “can we” deliver remote training, but rather a question of “how do we deliver effective remote learning”? How should we balance the need of the salesperson and provide a blended learning solution using online, video, ELearning, collaborative, coaching or classroom led? How does trust play a role in providing competent and motivated trainers to ensure we develop tomorrow’s sales talent? In this session, Nick Osborne and Rick Funke will explore these topics and more from a global and local perspective and share with you the impact of different training delivery methods.
Energy and enthusiasm are not only challenging to maintain when presenting remotely, they're also difficult to get across to your audience. However, by employing a few, simple techniques, it can be done. Drawing on his knowledge as both a broadcaster and trainer, Coach Steve Dawson will show you how to create a vibrant, charismatic connection to your audience, no matter where in the world you are or how far away they might be.
3:15 pm
ADJOURN
Registration
Registration Rates (in U.S. dollars)
Register by 15 February, 2023 LIMRA or LOMA member: US $950 Nonmember: US $1,450
Register after 15 February, 2023 LIMRA or LOMA member: US $1,150 Nonmember: US $1,650
Day Passes: Day passes are available for those unable to attend the entire event. Please email Ms. Megan Schwartz at mschwartz@limra.com for more details.
Refund Policy
Cancellations received before 15 February, 2023, will be refunded, less a $75 processing fee. Cancellations received from 15 February, 2023 to 3 March, 2023 will be refunded, less a $375 processing and administrative fee. No refunds will be issued after 3 March, 2023.
In the event that a scheduled meeting or event is cancelled by LIMRA/LOMA for any reason, LIMRA/LOMA shall refund any conference registration fees that have been paid by the registrant. Under no circumstances, however, shall LIMRA/LOMA be liable to the registrant for any other expenses including, but not limited to, airfare and hotel expenses incurred by the registrant.
89 Soi Wat Suan Plu, New Road Bangrak, Bangkok, Thailand, 10500
+(66 2) 236 7777
The Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok is a luxurious oasis for both leisure and business travellers. Located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, the hotel is close to Bangkok’s shopping, sightseeing and business districts. The adjacent Sky Train allows guests to travel through the city with ease, and Suvarnabhumi International Airport is just 30 minutes away by car.
Make your hotel reservations by 1 March to receive a room at the nightly group rate of:
Deluxe River View Room: THB 5,500++ / THB 6,000++ (Single/Double)
*Above rates are subject to 17.7% service charge and government taxes.
This special group rate is available from 12 March – 29 March, and is inclusive of breakfast, internet, use of the Health Club facilities, and 2 complimentary bottles of water each day. Check in time is 14:00 and check out time is 12:00.
Please note: All reservations are subject to availability of rooms at the time of your request, and rates will go up after 1 March, or when the meeting room block sells out, whichever comes first. We recommend booking your hotel early to take advantage of our discounted rates and avoid disappointment.
To reserve a room at our discounted group rate please use one of the following options:
Book Online: Visit our group booking site by clicking here.
Book via Email: Email your request to slbk@shangri-la.com with a copy to urasa.nicrothanon@shangri-la.com, making sure to mention the LIMRA LOMA Strategic Issues Conference with your email request to ensure that you receive our negotiated group rate.
If you receive any unsolicited or suspicious email or phone call about a hotel booking in conjunction with this meeting, our advice is not to click on it, but delete the email immediately. In the case of a phone call, never give out your credit card information. Our designated conference hotels will never call you unless you contact them first.
Visa Requirements:
Some participants may need a visa to enter Thailand. Visa invitations will be issued only to paid conference registrants. To request an invitation please contact Mr. Jinhai GUO at GUOJ@loma.org.
Become a Sponsor or Exhibitor
The Strategic Issues Conference connects senior life insurance executives, bancassurance leaders, and top solution providers to discuss the trends, predictions, opportunities and challenges impacting the life insurance industry in Asia.
Join the conversation by securing a sponsorship or exhibiting at the conference.
Why Participate
LIMRA and LOMA Conferences are made possible by the generosity of our sponsors and exhibitors. Sponsorship of the 2023 Strategic Issues Conference will help increase name recognition, build product and service awareness, and provide valuable networking opportunities to several hundred key decision-makers in the life insurance and financial services industries across Asia. All sponsorships (excluding banner advertisements) also include the following benefits:
Acknowledgement of your sponsorship in the registration brochure and on the event website, onsite signage, sponsor recognition slides, and event app.
A link to your company website from the event website.
Recognition of your sponsorship from the general session podium.
Sponsor ribbons for your company’s registered attendees
Inclusion of one company brochure in the welcome packet given to all attendees at registration.
A personalized sponsorship page on the event app, to showcase your company information.
One-time use of the delegate list with contact information (for those that have agreed to share it).
A post-event analytics report to see how attendees interacted with your company content on the event app.
For More Information
For information on the benefits of sponsorship, available packages, and how to apply to become a sponsor at the Strategic Issues Conference, please email Megan Schwartz at mschwartz@limra.com for more details.
