New Chair of the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF), Hilde Vernaillen visited East Asian countries

New Chair of the International Cooperative Insurance Coalition (ICMIF), Ms. Hilde Vernaillen, and ICMIF’s Chief Executive, Mr. Shaun Tarbuck visited China, Korea and Japan from late February to the beginning of March.

握手写真 — ICMIF Char, Hilde Vernillen (left), and AOA Chair, Tamotsu Shozui

ICMIFの概要

ICMIF is the only global representative body of the cooperative and mutual insurance sector. It provides unique services and activities and delivers enduring value to its 290 members in 75 countries (as of October 2016). ICMIF is owned, governed and actively guided by its member organizations. It exist to help strengthen the members’ competitiveness by delivering unique market information, networking opportunities, leadership development programmes and global advocacy.

AOA is a regional association of the ICMIF in the Asia-Oceania region.

About Ms. Vernaillen and the purpose of this visit

P&V 2014 — **Hilde Vernaillen, ICMIF Chair** (© Bénédicte Maindiaux)

Ms. Hilde Vernaillen is Chair of the Management Committee of P&V Group, a major cooperative insurance group in Belgium. She took office as ICMIF Chair in October 2016.

The visit was aimed at inaugural greetings to ICMIF members, new members acquisition activities, information gathering, exchange of opinions with ICMIF members, and promotion of ICMIF’s 5-5-5 Mutual Microinsurance Strategy.

What is 5-5-5 Mutual Microinsurance Strategy?

In January 2015, ICMIF launched the 5-5-5 Mutual Microinsurance Strategy to help mutual microinsurance reach its full potential scale in a number of emerging markets and thereby having a positive impact on the lives of millions of low-income households. Over the course of five years, ICMIF plans to develop mutual microinsurance in five countries, reaching out to 5 million uninsured low-income households, which will equate to 25 million people in total. The five countries (Colombia, India, Kenya, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka) were selected due to several factors including the fact that they are already doing prominent work in the field of mutual insurance, ICMIF member presence in that country and geographic reach.

Schedule in Korea and Japan

AOA organized the schedule of visits by the ICMIF delegation in Republic of Korea (Korea) and Japan in cooperation with NongHyup (NH) Life Insurance in Korea and Zenkyoren in Japan.

The main visits in Korea and Japan are as follows:

a. Speeches

Ms. Vernaillen and Mr. Tarbuck jointly made several speeches in Korea and Japan.

In their speeches, they touched various matters such as ICMIF’s survey on the current situation of cooperative and mutual insurers in the world, 5-5-5 Mutual Microinsurance Strategy, and the outline of ICMIF’s future activities. They also spoke about ICMIF’s policy advocacy which it implements for the international recognition of its members at the G20 Business Summit and the Insurance Development Forum.

ICMIF Feb 2017 and Japan trip — Slides – English (PDF) Downlod(10.26MB)

DSCN3056-2 — Ms. Vernaillen making a speech at the joint meeting by NH Life Insurance, NH Property & Casualty Insurance, ICMIF, and AOA (at NH Life Insurance headquarters) 【February 28, 2017】

DSCN30644 — Ms. Vernaillen speaking in front of 60 people at Zenkyoren’s headquarters【March 2, 2017】

JCIA04 — ICMIF Chair Ms. Vernaillen and Chief Executive Mr. Tarbuck receiving questions from the floor at the members only workshop by JCIA. About 120 people attended the event. 【March 2, 2017】

b. Visit to ICMIF members

Republic of Korea (February 28)

Having moved from China to Korea, the ICMIF delegation had a joint meeting with NH Life Insurance and NH Property & Casualty Insurance, major ICMIF members in South Korea. They exchanged views on the future ICMIF activities and other matters. In addition, the delegation also visited an organization that is interested in ICMIF.

AOA Chair Mr. Tamotsu Shozui (President of Zenkyoren) and AOA Executive Secretary Ms. Hiroko Kowada joined this Korea visit as a bridge between Korean organizations and ICMIF for better mutual understanding and friendship.

NH01 — Mr. Seo Ki-Bong (Central), CEO of NH Life Insurance, and Mr. Lee Youn-Bae (next to the right of Mr. Seo), CEO of NH Property & Casualty Insurance.

NH02 — From left in the front row, Mr. Seo Ki-Bong, CEO of NH Life Insurance, Ms. Vernaillen, IMCIF Chair, Mr. Shozui, AOA Chair, Mr. Lee Youn-Bae, CEO of NH P&C Insurance.

DSCN3040 — Mr. Tarbuck, ICMIF’s Chief Executive, Ms. Vernaillen, ICMIF Chair, and Mr. Seo Ki-Bong, CEO of NH Life Insurance (from left)

Japan (March 1-2)

Entering Japan, the ICMIF delegation energetically met with Japanese members. Immediately after their arrival in Japan in the afternoon of March 1, they visited UCMAF and Zenrosai. On the following March 2, the delegation visited Zenkyoren in the morning and made a speech, and at the lunch meeting they exchanged opinions with the management members from JCIF and Nikkaren. In the afternoon, after the meeting with the directors of Japan Cooperative Insurance Association Inc. (JCIA), they made a presentation again at JCIA’s members only workshop.

University Cooperatives Mutual Aid Federation (UCMAF) – (from left in the front row) Mr. Pascal Jacobs, Advisor to the CEO, P&V, Mr. Shaun Tarbuck, Chief Executive of ICMIF, Ms. Hilde Vernaillen, ICMIF Chair, Mr. Yasuyuki Hamada, President, (from left in the back row) Mr. Yoshiki Terao, Director, Mr. Takau Yoneyama, Vice President, Mr. Yuki Ishitsuka, Vice-Chairperson of Student Committee, Ms. Akari Tamura, Student Committee, (Mr. Kazuo Sioiri, AOA Secretariat), Ms. Yuki Matsuoka	Zenrosai – (from the left) Ms. Chihiro Ikusawa, Managing Director, Ms. Vernaillen, ICMIF Chair, Mr. Hiroshi Nakaseko, President, Mr. Hideo Hara, Senior Managing Director, Mr. Tarbuck, Chief Executive of ICMIF	Memorial photograph of Ms. Vernaillen and Pitt, Zenrosai’s character, at the office of Zenrosai
Zenkyoren – (from the left) Mr. Pascal Jacobs (P&V), Mr. Tarbuck, Chief Executive of ICMIF, Ms. Vernaillen, ICMIF Chair, Mr. Tamotsu Shozui, President, Mr. Fumio Yanai, Senior Managing Director, Mr. Shinichi Mima, Managing Director	Lunch meeting with Mr. Toshiaki Sato, President of JCIF, Mr. Yasushi Teranishi, Director of Nikkaren, and other people	JCIA’s members only workshop

c. Others

The schedule of the ICMIF delegation was very tight, but there were also opportunities to touch East Asian countries’ cultures and customs while short time. We hope they will deepen their understanding of the differences and similarities in each country.

DSC_2249_2 — On the way from the airport to the meeting site – TOKYO SKYTREE

Tokyo02 — On the way from the airport to the meeting site – Kaminarimon Gate in Asakusa

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