Tokio Marine Life to shed old self under new chief

GAINING positive reputation is one thing, but maintaining it is quite another. Nine months into his job, and James Tan, chief executive of Tokio Marine Life Singapore, is certainly aware that it can be a double-edged sword.

For the uninitiated, the insurer has a reputation for maintaining its non-guaranteed bonus rates of participating or par plans for 68 years - pretty much a Guinness record in Singapore insurance speak.

This becomes a bit of a pickle, though, as the insurer of Japanese heritage has been recording lower capital adequacy ratios over the past five years, as well as sliding non-guaranteed benefits reserve ratios that signal if an insurer can give policyholders any non-guaranteed payouts at all.