Exclusive | Climate change imperils Asia’s middle class, Hong Kong reinsurer says
People in emerging markets risk being ‘thrown back into poverty’ by natural disasters amid an insurance gap, Peak Re CEO says
Asia-Pacific’s Middle-class households are the most vulnerable to climate change-related natural catastrophes, which could hinder the region’s economic development and social stability, according to Franz-Josef Hahn, CEO of Hong Kong-based reinsurance company Peak Re.
It is urgent for insurance companies in the region to increase protection of the middle class as weather-related disasters become more frequent and severe, Hahn said in an interview on Monday.
The need is especially keen in emerging markets such as China, India and Southeast Asia, where insurance penetration is low and people are less financially secure, he added.
“Today, the middle class is the biggest part of the society in well-developed countries, and it constitutes the backbone of a society’s sustainability and its ongoing healthy growth,” he said. “The economies in Asia are relatively young. If the middle class is not adequately insured for natural catastrophes and health, they may be thrown back into poverty pretty easily.”
Hahn’s comments came after several major typhoons swept through Asia. Super Typhoon Yagi, one of the strongest storms in the region in decades, triggered severe rains and flooding in southern China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand this month, leading to more than 500 deaths.
According to estimates by officials in Hainan, the southern Chinese province hardest-hit by the disaster, Typhoon Yagi caused more than 80 billion yuan (US$11.4 billion) in economic losses, equal to nearly 10 per cent of the province’s total gross domestic product last year.
