LIAM President, Ms Loh Guat Lan receives the prestigious “Woman Leader of the Year Award” at the 26th Asia Insurance Industry Awards 2022
Kuala Lumpur, 8 November 2022 – Ms Loh Guat Lan, LIAM President has received the prestigious “Woman Leader of the Year Award” at the 26th Asia Insurance Industry Awards 2022 organised recently by the Asia Insurance Review, a renowned organization for insurance in Asia.
The awards presentation ceremony was held on 31 October 2022 at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore to recognise and salute excellence in the insurance industry. It was the first in-person extravaganza since 2019, after a long COVID-19 pandemic.
The Panel of Judges which represented a cross section of the industry including regional and international market leaders, were unanimous in their choice for ‘Woman Leader of the Year’ for Loh’s leadership and inspirational qualities.
As LIAM President since 2019, her stewardship of LIAM has been characterized by innovative ideas, strategic thinking and, most valuable of all, her tireless efforts to position the life insurance industry as a reputable organisation in the domestic and regional level.
Under her outstanding leadership, LIAM has built a great relationship, and influence to some extent, among regulators, peers and stakeholders. With the implementation of the Financial Sector Blueprint 2022-2026, Loh is currently heading the industry in charting a 5-year roadmap and strategies to achieve the desired targets set for the industry.
Among the key priorities/areas of focus include proactive strategies to increase the market penetration of life insurance ownership in Malaysia especially among the B40 market segment; to address the long-term sustainability and affordability of private medical and health insurance; to enhance the development of an open data ecosystem to support digital transformation; to enhance the industry’s skills development, professionalism and distribution; to review climate change impact, risk management and disclosures; to increase product transparency and disclosure to improve and enhance customer experience; to increase consumer education through proactive engagement with the Financial Education Network platform and to enhance public and private partnerships for catastrophic risk.
Loh Guat Lan currently leads Hong Leong Assurance (HLA) as its group managing director and CEO. She has over 30 years of experience in the life insurance industry, having spent 15 years of her career with HLA where she became its first woman COO and subsequently the company’s first woman CEO. Under her stewardship, HLA has grown to be among the top five life insurers in Malaysia, having concluded the financial year 2020-2021 with RM3.1bn ($682m) in total gross premium and new business grew by over 30% compared to the previous year.
Loh is also an internationally acclaimed speaker and shares her insights and thoughts at major life conferences worldwide.
Under Loh’s leadership, the industry remains focused to continue with its ongoing efforts to develop a progressive life insurance industry to better serve the nation’s needs.
