Global reinsurance company SCOR is establishing a research centre at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) that will promote and conduct applied research in insurance risk and related issues specific to the Asia-Pacific. A memorandum of understanding to set up the Insurance Risk and Finance Research Centre was signed today by SCOR and NTU's Nanyang Business School.
Combining market insight with intellectual rigour, the centre aims to produce research that will help the insurance industry meet Asia's growing protection needs. It also seeks to encourage in the region a greater culture of study and dialogue of insurance and actuarial science issues.
"We are pleased for the opportunity to bolster our contributions to this vital area of research. Rapid economic and social development is raising and changing the demand for insurance cover in Asia. A growing middle class and longer life expectancies are among the prevalent trends that present both opportunities and challenges for the industry. We believe these are best met with knowledge and understanding through rigorous research," said Professor Gillian Yeo, Interim Dean of the Nanyang Business School (NBS).
"We are pleased to be partnering a global leader in the field. SCOR's international presence in underwriting both the life and general insurance markets will certainly enhance the depth, relevancy and currency of our collaboration," Professor Yeo added.
The centre, which will be funded by SCOR, will undertake two to three research projects every year. Supervised by NBS faculty, these projects may tap on leading experts from external institutions when appropriate. The centre will also help fund PhD students at NBS for relevant research projects. The centre's findings will be shared at an annual high-level regional seminar.
SCOR chief operating officer Julien Carmona said, "The establishment of the Insurance Risk and Finance Research Centre supports our long-term commitment to research and the science of risk. SCOR greatly values its research partnerships with leading institutions. In 2010, we launched the Global Risk Centre to bring together material for those interested in risk.
"The Asia-Pacific is an important region for our business and the centre is a key step to supporting the growing role of insurance in the region. Solid enterprise risk management and a robust capital shield are cornerstones of SCOR's strategy. Research and knowledge sharing play an important role in the critical understanding of risk and contribute to providing resilient solutions and a stable foundation for growth."
He added that Nanyang Business School is a natural choice for SCOR. "It is one of the best business schools in the region and one that is actively engaged in first-tier research. Its degree course in actuarial science is well recognized in Singapore," Mr Carmona said.
SCOR has established several partnerships with the academic and research worlds in France, Germany, Switzerland and the United States. It also operates four life reinsurance research centres of its own. The company launched last December its Global Risk Centre to bring together studies and publications it has produced and supported, and make these available to anyone interested in risk.
This is the latest strategic partnership that Nanyang Business School has secured. In February 2011, it signed an agreement with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for two new scholarships for the Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) in aviation management at NTU.
Earlier in September 2010, Singapore Exchange chose to partner Nanyang Business School to set up a centre for financial education, featuring a state-of-the-art laboratory with trading-enabled terminals and online real-time data.
"To be a choice partner of these industry leaders is testament of our school's strong standing and the good performance of our graduates in the marketplace as well as the quality of our faculty.
"This latest partnership with SCOR complements our other initiatives and further strengthens NBS as a premier business school in Asia," added Professor Yeo.
Media contacts:
Bryan Lee
Director, Corporate Relations
Nanyang Business School
Nanyang Technological University
Email: bryanlee@ntu.edu.sg
Janice Cowley
Business Development Manager
SCOR Services Asia-Pacific
Email: jcowley@scor.com
Feisal Abdul Rahman
Senior Assistant Director
(Media Relations)
Corporate Communications Office
Nanyang Technological University
Email: feisalar@ntu.edu.sg
About SCOR
SCOR is a leading global reinsurance company focused on providing its clients with value-added solutions. The group focuses on executing an underwriting policy focused on profitability and adhering to a cautious financial policy in order to meet the expectations of their clients in terms of security.
The Group is organised around two main businesses, SCOR Global P&C (Property and Casualty reinsurance) and SCOR Global Life (Life reinsurance), plus an asset management business, SCOR Global Investments. In 2010, SCOR had a gross written premium of €6.7 billion and a net income of €418 million. SCOR has 35 offices across five continents.
For more information, please visit www.scor.com
About Nanyang Business School
The Nanyang Business School (NBS) is a leading business school committed to nurturing leaders for a sustainable world through academically rigorous curricula that are relevant to business practice. NBS is one of Asia's largest business schools, offering a comprehensive array of undergraduate and graduate programmes in accountancy and business. The Nanyang MBA is its flagship programme and has been consistently ranked among the best in the Asia-Pacific by both The Financial Times and The Economist. Drawing on a 50-year heritage of educating the region's business leaders, NBS provides an outstanding learning environment with state-of-the-art facilities and world-class research centres.
NBS is the first business school in Singapore, and the third in Asia, to attain both the European Quality Improvement System and Association of Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditations. It is also one of only five business schools outside of the United States to be accredited with the AACSB in Accounting. These are the most widely recognised European and American quality assurance standards relating to the provision of accounting and business education.
To leverage the strengths of world-class institutions, NBS has established strategic partnerships with the business schools of many internationally renowned universities. These include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Carnegie Mellon University; Cornell University; University of California, Berkeley; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Essec Business School; University of St Gallen; Waseda University; and the Shanghai Jiaotong University.
For more information, please visit www.nbs.ntu.edu.sg
About Nanyang Technological University
A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has 33,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering, Business, Science, and Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences. In 2013, NTU will enrol the first batch of students at its new medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, which is set up jointly with Imperial College London.
NTU is also home to four world-class autonomous institutes – the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering – and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) and Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N).
A fast-growing university with an international outlook, NTU is putting its global stamp on Five Peaks of Excellence: Sustainable Earth, Future Healthcare, New Media, New Silk Road, and Innovation Asia.
NTU has a satellite campus in Singapore's science and tech hub, one-north, and is setting up a campus in Novena, Singapore's medical district. It will also have its first campus in China, the NTU Tianjin College, in 2013.
For more information, please visit www.ntu.edu.sg