Kiwi company Delta Insurance Group is continuing it's expansion across the Asian region with the signing of a cyber-insurance agreement with Taiwanese insurers, Hotai Insurance Co. Ltd.
Under the agreement, Delta’s Singapore office is providing its commercial cyber-insurance offering along with long-term product support, including risk management services and training for Hotai employees.
Delta Insurance Group managing director Ian Pollard says the agreement with Hotai continues the company’s strategy of developing partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region to grow their footprint. The Taiwan deal follows a similar recent partnership signed with Vietnamese insurance company Bao Viet Insurance in April, and earlier agreements with insurance partners in Hong Kong, Cambodia and Thailand. Pollard says initiatives are also underway to develop partnerships in Indonesia and The Philippines, with Korea, Malaysia and Japan on the long-range radar.
“Delta Insurance Singapore is our Asia hub operation, and our intention is to develop partnerships similar to the Hotai and Bao Viet agreements across the region, where we share our capabilities and the speciality insurance lines we have developed, such as cyber-insurance. It’s not just a paper-based arrangement – it’s very much a ‘hands-on’ collaborative partnership to develop the capabilities of our partners.”
Pollard says Delta had set out to establish itself with a presence in 10 countries in 10 years when it was founded in NZ in 2014 – “and we’ve actually achieved that in six years.” That success was recently acknowledged in Delta Group making the Top 500 Fastest-Growing Companies in the Asia-Pacific Region where they ranked 180th.
Delta’s success has a lot to do with its size, says Pollard. “It’s core to our values to be entrepreneurial, proactive and nimble. We’re seeking collaborative arrangements with other partners and we’re at our inspirational best when we collaborate with others.
“We see ourselves as providing solutions that give our insureds and partners the confidence and security to succeed. It helps that we are a Lloyd’s Coverholder and therefore an integral part of the Lloyd’s Insurance market”.
Pollard says Delta sees significant growth in Asia for the company over the next 1-2 years and is already looking to hire a number of new staff in Singapore this year. “For example, the insurance sector only has about five percent market penetration with cyber-insurance and these are big economies, so we feel there is enormous potential to expand our product presence in existing markets and progressively extend our footprint across the region.
“We’ve seen enormous growth in Asia in the take-up of cyber insurance, even more so recently with the COVID-19 crisis and increased working from home.”
Pollard says Delta’s distribution channels in Asia are much more flexible. “We work through a wide variety of different intermediaries and not just insurance brokers, whereas in New Zealand we operate almost 100 percent through insurance brokers.”
He also paid tribute to NZTE, who had supported Delta in its expansion into Asia. “Very much like Lloyd’s, NZTE is a great ally to have in these markets and the level of support they have provided us has been tremendous.”