SIRC: ‘There is a lot going on’: cyber, credit, marine, political risk 1.1 opportunities remain despite the ongoing market softening: TMK

November 5 2025 by

Tokio Marine Kiln (TMK) is eyeing growth in specialty lines heading into APAC 1.1 renewals as clients in the region face escalating geopolitical risk and disruptions to global trade, according to its APAC chief.

In an interview with InsuranceAsia News, Pavlos Spyropoulos, regional manager for APAC at TMK in Singapore, said that the specialist Lloyd’s insurer still sees amble opportunities for expansion in the region, particularly in selected lines, such as cyber, credit, marine and political risk, despite the ongoing market softening.

“There is a lot going on,” said Spyropoulos. “It’s different by each line of business. From an Asia perspective, the growth is still there. It’s a very exciting region for the growth of P&C insurance market, and increasingly the specialist market, which has become more sophisticated. We see a lot of interest in terms of investment and a lot of brokers setting up or looking to make investments in the region.”

TMK has had a presence in Singapore for over 20 years and writes across a variety of specialty lines, including cyber, fine art, political risk, property, aviation, credit, marine, political violence and terrorism PVT), energy and accident and health.

While this year has been a benign one in terms of natural catastrophe losses in APAC, clients have faced severe disruption as a result of geopolitical tensions between the United States and its trading partners in the region, which has disrupted global trade flows and impacted the marine market, and the recent wave of protests in countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh, which is driving demand for political risk products, according to Spyropoulos.

“There is a lot more volatility in the market geopolitically, which is not going away,” Spyropoulos said . “That is only accelerating around us. That is an important opportunity for the insurance market. We are able to provide solutions that help businesses to continue despite increasing challenges.”

Cyber attacks on companies in the region are also becoming more frequent and sophisticated, aided by the rollout of AI technologies, which is driving awareness of the need for cyber coverage.

“We have been going through a growth story over the last three years.”

Pavlos Spyropoulos, Tokio Marine Kiln

“Where we have focused on new opportunities at the moment is cyber, and we entered the market here around eighteen months ago,” added Spyropoulos. “We are seeing a good opportunity to grow in that space.”

The insurer has recently invested heavily in its local claims team in the region, and has bolstered its local underwriting capabilities in the region as it seeks to diversify away from property.

“From TMK’s perspective, our focus has been around bringing in the best experts we can into our business and we have invested quite significantly in the past three years to either grow in existing lines or start some new lines of business,” added Spyropoulos. “We have continued building out our claims team.

“To lead the market, you need great underwriters and distribution, but you also need really good claims. That will be a continued theme as we move into the current cycle as clearly the market is softening, and we are moving into a cycle that is much more competitive, and rate driven. As that continues, you have to be able to demonstrate great claims ability to differentiate from the competition.”

TMK sees a significant runway for growth in the cyber, PVT, aviation and marine markets in APAC, even as renewal rates undergo a period of softening, according to Spyropoulos.

“We have been going through a growth story over the last three years,” said Spyropoulos. “TMK always had a very strong property team. We have been trying to diversify our portfolio by growing into new markets such as the Middle East and more broadly across Asia. We also have a very strong general aviation book and are leaders in that space in APAC.”

A new source of business

TMK has recently expanded into marine hull underwriting by becoming the APAC capacity provider to MGA Rokstone Underwriting’s marine business.

The MGA’s APAC marine team is led by marine market veteran Rama Chandran, who has been building out a local team of marine underwriters since October.

“Marine has always been a very competitive line of business, but it is still a growth area, particularly in the cargo space,” said Spyropoulos. “Asia is continuing to grow in terms of trade flows. Globally, a lot of trade flows happen within Asia. There is a lot of volatility in the market and that will continue.

“Long term, we see a continued macro trend, and it is an area where we have invested a lot. Recently we entered the hull space too via a cover holder in Singapore called Rokstone, who have brought on a very senior hull underwriter who has recruited a team. That will give us the opportunity to access a new source of business for us in the hull space going into next year.”

This year, on January 1, TMK merged its two flagship Lloyd’s syndicates into a single entity known as syndicate 510, with stamp capacity of GBP2.25 billion.

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