Specialty insurance has been one of the market’s growth stories, and Asia has been part of that expansion. Lloyd’s alone writes around US$10bn of premium in Asia Pacific, growing at just under 10% a year, its chief executive said last year. But its Singapore-based Asia Scheme was broadly flat in 2025, ending four years of growth, as financial and professional lines rates in Asia fell for a twelfth consecutive quarter, according to Marsh.
Carl Bach (pictured), head of international business in the UK at The Hartford, believes demand is being driven by increasingly complex risks, shaped by the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment.
“Asia’s growth reflects the fact that clients want specialised expertise delivered closer to where they operate,” Bach said.
He pointed to cyber, D&O, and power and renewables among the lines growing rapidly in Singapore. As local capacity and expertise develop, he argued, brokers and their clients benefit.
He does not see that as a threat to London, which he expects to remain “one of the world’s premier specialty insurance centres”. The London market’s total premium came to £104.8bn in 2024, according to the International Underwriting Association, an...