Pacific Life Re appoints Yoke Yin Lee as head of South Korea
Pacific Life Re, a leading player in the life and health reinsurance industry, has appointed Yoke Yin Lee to oversee operations and growth as head of its South Korea business.
Yoke Yin joined Pacific Life Re in 2008 and was a key member of the team that established the South Korea branch in 2015. In 2021, she was promoted to head of finance, Asia. In this role, she led several important initiatives for the South Korean branch, such as implementing IFRS 17 reporting, Korean Insurance Capital Standard (K-ICS), and working closely with the team in South Korea on all financial reporting matters.
Vasan Errakiah, general manager, Asia markets, commented, “Yoke Yin has demonstrated exceptional leadership and delivered excellent results in her previous roles. We’re confident that she will drive our growth in South Korea and contribute toward our success story in Asia.”
Yoke Yin said, “I am honoured and excited to take on this new role to lead our talented and dedicated team in South Korea. This is an important market for Pacific Life Re Asia and I am committed to delivering high-quality products and services to our clients. I am looking forward to working with our regional and global colleagues further to enhance our financial performance and strategic position in Asia.”
Pacific Life Re welcomes Sujin Park as head of underwriting and claims, Asia markets
Pacific Life Re, a leader in the life and health reinsurance industry, announced the appointment of Sujin Park as the new head of underwriting and claims for its Asia business, underscoring Pacific Life Re’s commitment to excellence in serving its valued clients in the Asia markets.
With more than 20 years of extensive experience in life and health underwriting and claims, Sujin brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to this role, having held key positions at insurance and reinsurance firms across South Korea and other Asian markets. She will be based in Pacific Life Re’s Singapore office.
Andrew Doran, global chief underwriting officer, commented, “We are delighted to welcome Sujin to our team. Her experience and deep understanding of the Asian market dynamics and regulations will undoubtedly enhance our underwriting and claims capabilities. We look forward to her contributions in driving our growth and innovation.”
Sujin stated, “I am excited to be a part of the Pacific Life Re team and to lead the underwriting and claims efforts in Asia. With the company’s strong commitment to excellence and innovation, I’m confident that we will continue to provide our clients with top-tier reinsurance solutions and exceptional service.”
Sujin’s appointment reflects Pacific Life Re’s strategic ambition to grow in the region and provide the highest reinsurance expertise and service standards to its clients.
Pacific Life Re Announces the Appointment of Brian Cronin as Head of Longevity Pricing in Europe and Surbhi Jadeja as Director, Longevity in Europe.
Pacific Life Re is pleased to announce the appointment of both Brian Cronin and Surbhi Jadeja into their new roles within its Europe Longevity team, as Head of Longevity Pricing and Director, Longevity respectively.
Brian has been with Pacific Life Re for 10 years, initially joining as a Pricing Analyst, before specialising in longevity pricing in 2017. Bringing with him significant pricing expertise.
Surbhi joined Pacific Life Re in 2015. After nearly four years in the Corporate Actuarial team, she moved to the Longevity Business Development team in late 2018, where she is responsible for working with clients on their pension risk transfer needs.
Brian Cronin, Head of Longevity Pricing, commented: “It has been great to be part of Pacific Life Re’s journey over the last 10 years, seeing the growth and success of the company. We have a very talented Longevity Pricing team, and I am delighted to take on this role, as we continue to build our team and grow our capabilities within the longevity market.”
Surbhi Jadeja, Director, Longevity, Europe, added: “I am really looking forward to continue working with our clients and to create positive outcomes for all involved. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here at Pacific Life Re and am excited to be taking this next step up within the business.”
Quantum technology investment by Pacific Life Re
Pacific Life Re is pleased to announce it has invested in Quantonation, a venture capital fund specialising in quantum technology and deep physics.
As innovators in the reinsurance space, Pacific Life Re is committed to supporting technology-led solutions that supplement – or could even reimagine traditional medical research.
Pacific Life Re’s partnership with Quantonation fosters the development of quantum technology products and services, leveraging our experience and expertise in the life and health reinsurance sector. In particular, this could include breakthroughs in areas including virtual drug testing, medical screening and AI-based diagnosis, with direct impact on life & health reinsurance.
Vincent Lepez, Managing Director, Pacific Life Re Europe, commented: “The expected enhancements of quantum technologies for heavy computational problems will prove incredibly helpful for future risks or behaviours forecasting and prevention. Areas of application for life and medical risks and beyond are limitless. I am very proud that Pacific Life Re actively supports Quantonation and their pool of promising tech startups.”
Olivier Tonneau, Partner, Quantonation, added: “We are thrilled to welcome Pacific Life Re as a strategic investor in Quantonation. As financial services & insurance is one of the shorter-term applications of quantum technologies, we believe that our collaboration with Pacific Life Re will enable us to develop innovative use cases with our portfolio companies and help accelerate the adoption of quantum technologies in the financial industry.”
Pacific Life Re Announces the Appointment of Elaine Murphy as Head of Risk, Europe
Pacific Life Re is pleased to announce the appointment of Elaine Murphy as its Head of Risk in the Europe Business Unit.
Elaine will be stepping into the role as Daragh Brady moves to become Head of Finance and Strategy in August, later this year. Elaine joined Pacific Life Re’s Longevity team in 2018 before taking responsibility for the Longevity new business development team in November last year. She has led several high-profile Longevity transactions and contributed significantly to the company’s new product development. Elaine has worked in the insurance industry for over 11 years and brings a huge amount of commercial and technical experience to the new role.
Michelle Moloney, Chief Risk Officer, Pacific Life Re commented: “I am delighted for Elaine to be taking on this new role as the next step in her career with us. Pacific Life Re provides long term commitments to our customers and their policyholders. As such, we have built a strong risk management team and corporate culture to deliver on these promises.
Elaine will be a huge asset to the team.” Elaine Murphy, Head of Risk, Europe, added: “I am looking forward to this new and exciting challenge and am pleased to be able to take this next step at Pacific Life Re where I can have an important impact.”
Pacific Life Re Announces the Appointment of Andrew Murphy as Head of Inforce Management, Europe
Pacific Life Re is pleased to announce the appointment of Andrew Murphy as its new Head of Inforce Management in the Europe Business Unit.
The newly created role, based in London, combines the Europe Corporate Actuarial and Operations teams under Andrew’s leadership.
Andrew has worked in the wider insurance industry for 17 years, joining Pacific Life Re in 2012, where he has worked across several areas of the business – Sales and Marketing, Pricing and most recently, Operations. Andrew takes up this role immediately and will work with Pacific Life Re senior leadership as the business unit transitions into its new structure.
Vincent Lepez, Managing Director, Europe, commented: “I am delighted that Andrew will be taking on this new role and look forward to working with him further to enhance the capabilities of our teams. I believe there should be stronger connectivity between the teams processing data from cedants and the teams using that inforce data for actuarial modelling, all trending towards one source of data and one common set of processes. Andrew is an invaluable member of the Pacific Life Re team and I am happy that we can build on his experience and expertise as we scale our business.”
Andrew Murphy, Head of Inforce Management, Pacific Life Re, added: “I am extremely proud to be taking on this new opportunity at Pacific Life Re. I believe that placing an even greater focus on data insights, technical analysis and our client relationships will be key to sustaining further growth and solidifying our position as a market leader.”
Pacific Life Re Expands into Funded Reinsurance Market
Pacific Life Re is pleased to announce its expansion into the funded reinsurance market with the set-up of a new team, Global Funded Solutions (GFS).
Pacific Life Re has a strong track record for innovation and growth within its insurance risk business lines. It has leading positions in both protection and longevity in its target markets and has grown to be a global risk transfer reinsurer. Pacific Life Re is now adding asset intensive transactions to its proposition as it expands to offer funded reinsurance solutions to clients.
Pension risk transfer markets have experienced exponential growth over the past few years, generating more demand for reinsurers to take on the full asset and longevity risk for bulk pension annuity transactions. Pacific Life Re has been a key player in the pension risk transfer market, offering longevity risk transfer solutions to our insurance clients through a variety of innovative transactions.
GFS was created to further support Pacific Life Re’s clients to write asset intensive business where it is required. The initial focus was to support the UK pension risk transfer market, but the team is also looking to expand into other geographies and product lines where there is a demand for this form of reinsurance support.
GFS utilises the capabilities already existing within the Pacific Life group, from its longevity and reinsurance structuring expertise, to its investment management capability, significant balance sheet strength and AA- S&P credit rating.
Phill Beach will head up the new team and will be based in Bermuda.
Phill Beach, Head of GFS, commented: “I am really excited to have been involved in the set-up of GFS and I look forward to working with the team to grow this business line over the coming years. Our insurance clients offer a huge social benefit by de-risking pension schemes and increasing security to member pensions. I’m pleased that Pacific Life Re can now play a greater role in supporting this de-risking of pensions and expand to support other asset backed business in the markets we operate in.”
Dave Howell, CEO, Pacific Life Re commented: “Since 2008 we have grown Pacific Life Re to be a significant global reinsurer for insurance risk transfer. Our expansion into funded reinsurance was a natural next step given the balance sheet strength, capital availability and investment management capability of our parent company, Pacific Life.”
Pacific Life Re Announces Appointment of new Chief Information Officer
Pacific Life Re is pleased to announce the appointment of Julie Evans as chief information officer (CIO)
Julie joins Pacific Life Re from its wholly-owned subsidiary and innovative technology company, UnderwriteMe, where she was chief operating officer for more than two years. In Julie’s role as CIO at Pacific Life Re, she will be joining its senior leadership team, further strengthening and diversifying the team.
Julie brings with her a wealth of experience and knowledge of the industry, having previously held CIO roles at Aviva UK and Barclays Asia. Julie will be working closely with the Pacific Life Re IT management teams and strategic partners to define and deliver an IT strategy and further strengthen Pacific Life Re’s capabilities across the firm.
David Howell, CEO, Pacific Life Re, commented: “I am very pleased to welcome Julie to Pacific Life Re. Julie joins us during extraordinary times. Our technology function has done a fantastic job of supporting our business globally through the current remoteworking situation and Julie’s appointment will make our operating models and functions even stronger going forward.” Julie commented: “I am delighted to be joining Pacific Life Re. I am looking forward to working with such an innovative global team and driving the delivery of a technology strategy that powers continued future success.”