better website for yasuda

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

Here's what people can do if they want to lodge a protest with Yasuda Fire &
Marine Insurance Co., Ltd.:

1.  Go to this site: <http://www.yasuda.co.jp>
2.  Press the "English" button
3.  Scroll down to the "Mail" icon (a little blue envelope)
4.  Fill in the blanks and send

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17th June 1997      Asia Times

Myanmar opens insurance door with joint venture

Stephen Brookes, Yangon, 17th June 1997

<Picture>Japan's Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance agreed last week to 
set up a joint-venture company with Myanma Insurance in a move that may 
signal an opening up of Myanmar's state-held insurance sector. 

The new company - the first insurance joint venture in Myanmar - is 
likely to be set up within six months, officials at Myanma Insurance 
said. No name or financing details for the company have been settled, 
they said. 

At a June 12 ceremony marking the agreement, Minister for Finance and 
Revenue Brigadier-General Win Tin said: "As the economy expands and 
becomes more complex, more insurance activities" were needed. "Now is 
the proper time for Myanma Insurance to have a business partner, since 
the advent of the market economic system has caused government 
organizations to undergo drastic changes to be aligned with market 
mechanisms." 

Insurance has been a monopoly of the state in Myanmar for more than 
three decades. Under the Investment Law of 1988, foreign investors are 
required to take machinery, fire, marine and personal accident insurance 
with Myanma Insurance, and the company's turnover is more than US$100 
million annually. 

The Myanmar Insurance Law of 1993 paved the way for privatization of the 
insurance industry, and in June 1996 new regulations opening up part of 
the insurance market were announced. 

Actual privatization of the insurance industry has been stalled, 
however, and foreign insurers are only allowed to set up representative 
offices. 

"Private insurance companies are not allowed to set up yet," said Deputy 
Managing Director of Myanma Insurance, Maung Thein. 

"New regulations are expected soon. But we expect that the joint venture 
will settle the problem of getting reinsurance," he added. "Life will be 
much easier." 

Reinsurance enables insurers - in this case Myanma - who have sold 
policies covering any number of risks, to effectively insure themselves 
against possible payouts on those risks. In doing so they spread the 
risk they are covering, and therefore increase the amount of coverage 
they can offer. Domestic reinsurance is not available in Myanmar and 
therefore companies need to approach established reinsurance markets in 
Japan, the United States or Europe - hence this latest tie-up. 

Without reinsurance, a domestic industry is effectively suffocated by 
its own limitations. 

Local insurance companies now act as insurance buyers for foreign 
investors, arranging full coverage through a foreign reinsurer while 
paying fronting fees to Myanma Insurance. 

Yasuda's representative office in Yangon refused comment on the new 
venture, but in a written statement Yasuda said that it had "high 
expectations of what this pioneer company can do to assist the 
development of the Myanmar insurance industry. 

"The establishment of a joint-venture insurance company in Myanmar will 
allow Yasuda to strengthen its worldwide network and improve its client 
services such as the provision of insurance cover, and claims handling," 
the company added. "This, in turn, will support the growing Japanese 
trend toward investment in Asia." 

A number of Japanese companies including Mitsui and Sumitomo had 
expressed interest in forming a joint venture with Myanma Insurance, 
said Maung Thein. Yasuda was picked, he said, because it was the second 
largest insurance company in Japan, and the first to have a 
representative stationed in Yangon. 

In remarks at the signing ceremony, Win Tin noted Yasuda had "exhibited 
its goodwill and enthusiasm towards our country in the most perceptible 
manner".

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