Hubbis was delighted to host the 2022 HNW Insurance Summit on September 29 at the Mandarin Oriental in Singapore.
Very simply, the event focused on the evolution of HNW life insurance policies and solutions, and its relevance to Asia’s wealth private management community and their clients.
Thanks to our partners: 1291 Group, Sun Life Singapore, Lombard International Assurance, GoUpscale, Equiom Group
Topics included:
- Creating value for clients as they consider their legacy
- Use cases for PPLI in Asia
- Insurance as a wealth planning tool for HNW families
- Legacy creation for HNW families
- What are the HNW Insurance options and how do they work?
- Tax and regulatory developments
- What is succession planning and why is it important?
- Wealth Structuring Considerations when considering HNW Insurance
HNW INSURANCE SUMMIT 2022 - Singapore
Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Singapore

A community of leading organisations within Asian Wealth Management

Senior figures in Asian Wealth Management are speaking at this event

Benjamin Szeto
1291 Group

Peter Triggs
1291 Group

Zac Lucas
Spencer West

Lee Woon Shiu
DBS Private Bank

Lucia Luchetti
Equiom Group

Lee Wong
Lombard Odier

Sim Mong Teck
Sim Mong Teck & Partners

Charmaine Leung
National Council of Social Service
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8.30am
Registration
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8.55am
Welcome Address
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9.00am
Panel Discussion - in partnership with 1291 Group
Creating value for clients as they consider their legacy
- Why is the conversation around wealth and legacy planning increasingly important?
- How do you add value to your clients in the non-investment side of your relationship?
- What do UHNW clients expect of their advisers and the professional services firms they work with?
- Are there any issues to further growth? Talent / cost / taxes?
- What is the current state of the Singapore wealth management market, and what are the key advantages it offers regional and global clients?
Chair
Speakers
Lee Woon ShiuManaging Director & Group Head of Wealth Planning, Family Office & Insurance Solutions
DBS Private Bank
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9.30am
Presentation - Use cases for PPLI in Asia
- Examples - China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand
- Privacy, asset protection and tax optimisation
- It’s role in next generation planning
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9.45am
Presentation - Insurance as a wealth planning tool for HNW families
- Introduction to Sun Life
- Wealth planning trends among Asian HNW families: Past, Present and Future
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10.00am
Panel Discussion - in partnership with Sun Life Singapore
Legacy creation for HNW families
- What are the factors to consider when planning for a legacy for yourself and your family?
- Why is it important to establish a legacy planning strategy for your philanthropic efforts?
- How to build a forward plan for your philanthropic legacy?
- What can you learn from the successful philanthropic legacies set up with Community Chest?
- With the increasing numbers of Family Office being set up in Singapore, is this the way forward for HNW and UHNW families to manage their family wealth?
- What are the trends of Family Office concept in the next 5 years?
- How do trusts, family constitution, family offices play a role in HNW families’ legacy planning?
- What is a typical Singapore based Family Office like?
Chair
Speakers
Charmaine LeungManaging Director, Community Chest and Group Director, Fund-Raising & Engagement Group
National Council of Social Service
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10.30am
Presentation - Wealth & Succession Planning in an Increasingly Uncertain World
- Mobility
- Life Events
- Legacy
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10.45am
Refreshment & Networking
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11.15am
Panel Discussion - in partnership with Lombard International Assurance
How to serve internationally mobile UHNW clients via PPLI
- Mobile clients need portable solutions
- Simplification of legacy planning across borders
- Adding value to your current services
Chair
Speakers
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11.45am
Panel Discussion - in partnership with 1291 Group
Tax and regulatory developments
- How is the regulatory impact on HNW Insurance policies changing?
- What are the recent developments when considering tax reporting and transparency issues in relation to HNW Insurance?
- The introduction of Taiwan CFC rules – what does this mean for you?
- Are there any other regional tax developments you need to be aware of?
- Are there any specific considerations today? Russian clients for example.
Chair
Speakers
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12.15pm
Presentation - What is succession planning and why is it important?
- The benefits of trusts for succession planning
- The use of trusts to hold insurance policies amongst other assets
- The role of trustees in the insurance ecosystem
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12.30pm
Panel Discussion - in partnership with 1291 Group
Wealth Structuring Considerations when considering HNW Insurance
- What are the wealth structuring and legacy planning trends?
- How does HNW Insurance need to be structured as part of a holistic wealth and legacy planning strategy?
- Post-insurance planning should be discussed fully – how can you do that? What are the consequences of not doing this?
- How should you use trust structures when considering insurance solutions?
- How does insurance and a family office potentially blend together?
Chair
Speakers
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13.00pm
Lunch
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14.00pm
Forum End
HNW INSURANCE SUMMIT 2022 - Singapore
Mandarin Oriental Hotel,Singapore


Benjamin Szeto
1291 Group

Peter Triggs
1291 Group

Zac Lucas
Spencer West

Lee Woon Shiu
DBS Private Bank

Lucia Luchetti
Equiom Group

Lee Wong
Lombard Odier

Sim Mong Teck
Sim Mong Teck & Partners

Charmaine Leung
National Council of Social Service

John Shoemaker
Butler Snow

Rohit Ganguli
EFG Bank

Carolyn Leng
Bordier & Cie

Roger Chi
1291 Group

Serge Hediger
1291 Group

Michael Velten
Deloitte & Touche

Nicholas Kourteff
NicAl

Michael Wei
Sun Life

Lee Sleight
Lombard International Assurance
HNW INSURANCE SUMMIT 2022 - Singapore
Mandarin Oriental Hotel,Singapore

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HNW INSURANCE SUMMIT 2022 - Singapore
Mandarin Oriental Hotel,Singapore

Setting the Scene for the event
Life insurance is an integral part of HNW and UHNW wealth management. It is a unique tool that can provide true peace of mind, helping individuals to build and safeguard their wealth for generations to come. It is an incredibly valuable solution for protecting families and loved one, providing them assurance of liquidity in the event of the inevitable or the unexpected. It is an increasingly valuable and sought-after element within robust, forward-thinking wealth, estate, and legacy planning. And it is an ideal solution for traversing the minefields of global regulations and taxation in all forms.
According to a Capgemini study, the global HNW population grew by 7.8% in 2021, with the Asia-Pacific region a key driver for that growth. In 2022, the situation has changed in terms of optimism being replaced by caution amidst weaker mainstream global asset prices, signs of weakening real estate valuations, rising inflation and interest rates, tighter global liquidity, and some very serious geopolitical anxieties.
But despite all of these concerns arriving at the same time, the life insurers and the wealth management industry remain very positive about the prospects for HNW life insurance growth in 2022 and beyond. Indeed, all these events coming on top of the (now waning) Covid-19 pandemic have only served to intensify the focus amongst clients, insurers, distributors/agents, and the wealth industry on the immense advantages that such solutions can offer.
Yet, set against this generally encouraging backdrop, there are many key questions to address as to the precise direction the HNW life sector is heading. The Hubbis HNW Insurance Solutions Summit on September 29 will draw together a set of outstanding experts and leaders in the field within Asia Pacific to highlight and then debate these key issues for our wealth industry delegates.
These are some of the key topics that will be covered in the event:
- The Role of HNW Life Insurance in Robust Estate, Family & Legacy Planning
- Life Insurance and the Intensifying World of Regulation & Tax
- How do you Choose the Right Policy/Structure? Whole of Life? Savings Plans? Term Life? UL, IUL, or VUL? PPLI? Or?
- Financing Premiums and Policies, and the Role of Leverage in a new Era of Rising Rates
- The Insurers, the Agencies, and the Wealth Management Industry – Working Closer Together?
The Key Topics in Brief:
The Role of Life Insurance in Robust Estate, Family & Legacy Planning
Life insurance solutions can address both identifiable risks for the individuals and their families, and also achieve key investment-related and even legal/regulatory/tax advantages. To find the right policy and structure, insurance planning requires a thorough understanding of the clients and their personal and family situations.
If selected and structured properly, life policies can play a very central role in robust, well-structured estate & legacy planning, helping provide both protection and also liquidity support at critical times for the families. At vital times for these individuals and families, the policies can serve as probate-free distribution vehicles for the policyholder’s wealth and help ensure that the wishes of the policyholders and effected after his or her death.
The policies can serve as tax efficient, and also tax-sheltered investment vehicles, and these days, they can not only house multiple publicly tradeable assets, but also a far wider variety of private and alternative assets than ever before.
Life policies can not only fit the needs of HNW clients but also UHNW clients, with jumbo policies of more than USD100 million possible. And to help bulk them up, policies are often leveraged, especially in the past 10-15 years of low and falling interest rates, although that era has now come to an abrupt end.
And as part of their overall estate and legacy planning, clients can take out different policies at different times, to help them diversify risks and enhance flexibility. Each insurance product has different features and benefits, and quite often, taking out multiple insurance solutions will assist to maintain and extend levels of protection and other advantages. Indeed, a diversified protection portfolio can ideally complement the clients’ broader investment portfolios.
In short, life insurance solutions can help with asset/wealth protection and accumulation, can help avoid the complexities and time required for probate, protect assets from creditors and also potentially family or other members to be excluded from the estate, they can provide flexibility, they can deliver tax free death benefits, and tax deferred wealth accumulation.
Our experts will help pain the big picture of the numerous advantages of life insurance within estate & legacy planning, before drilling down further into some of the details as the day unfolds.
Life Insurance and the Intensifying World of Regulation & Tax
The old adage is even more relevant today – death and taxes are inevitable! But life solutions can help with these realities and provide a degree of certainty in a highly uncertain world. Life insurance solutions across most of the world – and there are a few exceptions that prove the general rule – come with favourable tax with wealth accumulation either tax-deferred or non-taxable, and also regulatory/legal advantages such as the avoidance of probate. Our experts will briefly review some of the key regulatory and tax advantages that can be achieved with life policies.
Analysing the Alternatives in Today’s World – Whole Life? Savings Plans? Term Life? UL, IUL or VUL? PPLI? Help!
Understanding the needs of HNW clients including their personal protection requirements, their asset/wealth protection and accumulation objectives, and their wider family and personal situations will help the specialists hone the particular policy solutions as precisely to these clients as possible.
And there are nowadays plenty of alternatives. Moreover, the rapidly evolving global financial landscape is driving significant change in what the insurers can provide and the advantages pertaining to each solution. This is because the insurers obviously deliver their protection and their returns based on prevailing and anticipated financial market conditions, on inflation, and on interest rates and expectations.
Our experts will briefly review the key types of policies available and discuss which ones are currently or will likely be most in favour, and why. They will explain why inflation and the rapidly rising interest rate environment in the leading western economies will significantly impact the relative appeals of key offerings such as Whole of Life, Savings Plans, Term Life, Universal Life, Indexed UL, Variable UL, or Private Placement Life Insurance.
By way of example, with the higher interest rate environment resulting in lower or falling policy financing, which does that bring offerings such as VUL or PPLI more into the mainstream looking ahead? How can the insurance industry take advantage and leverage the higher interest rate environments to bring out more guaranteed return products, more guaranteed return solutions that may cater for longer term annuity and retirement and savings type clients? And which other policies are likely to see less availability or fewer appeals in the new era of higher inflation and elevated rates?
They will discuss the innovations that are arriving in the sector or expected to arrive to deliver greater optionality and flexibility to clients across both protection and savings, and also related to the beneficiaries across different jurisdictions. And they will discuss how different products can be built alongside other policies; for example, critical illness cover has raced into the foreground since the pandemic hit, along with other associated needs relating to coverage, for example for long-term hospitalisation or long-term care.
Should clients pay for the policies with cash, through single premiums or regular payments, and should they take out premium financing? The speakers will touch briefly on these issues as part of their broader review of the products on offer.
And the insurers and the jurisdictions are also highly pertinent to arriving at the right decisions. What characteristics should the insurers demonstrate to be viable and strong providers of life policies. What sort of financial or other strengths and capabilities should they exhibit? Where should your policies be written, and which jurisdictions should the insurers be in? How much due diligence should the agents, intermediaries or perhaps the end clients do on the insurers and related matters such as jurisdictions? Again, our experts will touch briefly on all these important matters.
Financing HNW Premiums and Policies; the Role of Leverage in a new Era of Rising Rates
For the past several decades until late 2021, interest rates fell, and for the past 10-15 years were incredibly low. In that environment, there was a huge amount of financing of life policies by HNW and UHNW clients, and the banks and others were willing to throw vast sums at this segment of the loans market, especially if supporting policies from which their own bankers or other related parties could make significant fees.
That era has ended; inflation is rampant in the Western economies, and rates are rising higher and faster than even the most ardent sceptics might have predicted. This is increasingly hitting the amount of policy funding and premium financing that banks are willing to provide and that clients are willing to take on.
The experts will clarify key issues, such as the difference between premium financing, where part of the policy proceeds pay off the loans, and policy funding where the policy’s value is pledged to the lender(s) as collateral, with the lenders then typically stipulating that proceeds are reinvested with them. Accordingly, our experts will review the funding market from both the availability of funding and also what each commitment means for the clients and the advantages that can flow through.
The Insurers, The Agencies, and the Wealth Management Industry – Working Closer Together?
Our speakers will identify the key parties involved in the life solutions industry and how they can increasingly work effectively with the private banks and the independent wealth industry.
Life insurance is a critical solution for private clients as part of their overall estate and legacy planning, and therefore not to be ignored by the RM/advisor community. These bankers and advisors are extremely well position to identify which of their clients need or want life solutions, but they then need to understand how they can work with the insurers, the special HNW solutions agencies/distributors and others from a practical perspective and also bearing in mind key regulatory/compliance boundaries on what they can and cannot say or do.
Our experts will review how the wealth industry can work effectively with the various parties concerned, how they can make fees related to the policies and/or the associated funding, how they can remain objective in their views and advice, and how they can also protect their AUM.
According to industry specialists, these bankers and RMs have been much more closely associated to the life sector in recent years, and our speakers will debate how and why this should remain the case for the years ahead, and what the bankers/RMs need to do to up their game.
As part of this area of discussion, our speakers will briefly touch on digital distribution to debate whether this is simply for the retail and mass affluent market, and whether HNW insurance will remain a product that requires the involvement of genuine experts who personally deliver detailed explanations and advice to their wealthy clients.
HNW INSURANCE SUMMIT 2022 - Singapore
Mandarin Oriental Hotel,Singapore