Full Capacity: The year that was

December 20 2025 by

Welcome to Full Capacity, a weekly briefing on all the most important developments of the past week with a personal take on the news from our editor-in-chief, Mithun Varkey, delivered to your inbox every Saturday.   

IAN Exclusive. Marsh’s former growth and strategy leader for finpro in Hong Kong and Macau, Pal Tang, is set to join Aon on Monday in a regional role, InsuranceAsia News reported exclusively. 

Leadership switch. In heavyweight moves this week, Chubb snapped up AIG regional president Chris Colahan as head of APAC for its commercial P&C business, while AIG announced the appointment of Everest Insurance’s Scott Leney as his successor. 

Opening up. After years of false starts and dithering, India has finally allowed 100% foreign ownership of insurers.

The move is likely to be a driver for deals and consolidation in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

For most international players, India will be a priority market, and there will be some deals, and many participants with a minority interest will be pushing to get themselves into a majority position, ideally a significant majority. 

Lower barriers. Vietnam has given the nod for the removal and simplification of many ex-ante regulatory requirements for (re)insurers and market participants, as part of its newly amended law for insurance businesses. 

The law also introduces a clear roadmap for transitioning to risk-based capital requirements. 

Cat losses. Insured losses from natural catastrophe again have surpassed the US$100 billion mark for the sixth consecutive year, mainly driven by the unprecedented Los Angeles wildfire loss record in the first quarter of 2025 and SCS, according to Swiss Re Institute.  

Overall, at US$107 billion, total insured losses in 2025 is 24% lower than the US$141 billion recorded in 2024. 

New capacity. Former XL Catlin and Sirius Point executive Bobby Heerasing has launched a new APAC-focused MGA with the backing of Convex and Efinity. 

The new MGA, which was flagged by this newsletter last week, will be known as Prism and will have its headquarters in Singapore and an operation in Hong Kong. 

Meanwhile, Rainmaker Group-owned MGA XS Global has launched its APAC operations in Hong Kong. Led by former AIG exec Steve Barnett, XS Global Asia Pacific was granted a license in Hong Kong in July, with Lloyds coverholder status approved in August. 

Transformative times

And just like that, we’ve hit the final Full Capacity of the year – before the festive frenzy takes over. Well, maybe not for the reinsurance world, which is still racing toward the 1.1 renewals.

Word in the market? They’re running later than usual.

It’s been a transformative year for (re)insurance industry on the whole.

The once rock-hard market has softened, even as reinsurers continue posting stellar results – combined ratios dipping into the high 70s and low 80s. After years of turbulence, the sector finally seems to be breathing a little easier.

Catastrophes may have been relatively tame overall, but the year still packed a punch. From the early LA wildfire to the record-smashing Hurricane Melissa rolling through the Caribbean.

Asia wasn’t spared either: the Myanmar earthquake rattled nerves across the region, unprecedented wildfires hit South Korea and Japan, and late-year floods devastated parts of Southeast and South Asia.

But 2025 reminded us that not all crises are natural. The Air India crash and the tragic Hong Kong housing estate fire turned global attention to the human side of risk – and the industry that stands behind rebuilding lives and economies.

Deals dominated headlines, too. Sompo’s bold grab of Aspen Re set the tone, DB Insurance entered the US specialty market with Fortegra, and whispers of an AIG–Chubb mega-merger have the market buzzing.

M&A momentum hasn’t just picked up – it’s accelerating into the new year.

Closer to home, 2025 was the year MGAs truly came of age in Asia, with new launches multiplying across the region.

And let’s not forget the tech revolution. AI stopped being just a talking point and started reshaping business.

Just this Friday, AIG announced a Lloyd’s special purpose vehicle with Amwins, Blackstone, and Palantir – a next-gen structure leveraging GenAI for portfolio underwriting. That’s not just innovation, it could be the blueprint for what’s coming.

So yes, the market may be soft, and balance sheets brimming with capital, but with investors happy and margins strong, perhaps now’s the moment for the industry to double down on innovation – across technology, products, modelling, and distribution.

Because if the past few years were about rebuilding, 2026 and beyond could be the time for insurance to reinvent itself.

People moves

Howden has been on a hiring spree this week, building out its financial lines teams with notable hires, including Aon’s Xianwei Lee and Marsh’s Eugene Lim in Singapore. It also hired Sheen Fraser in the carrier management team.

Sompo Hong Kong expanded its marine team with Clara Yip.

Meanwhile, Sedgwick added Cory Chow as managing director of Asia global specialty marine.

Do check out our weekly people move round-up to stay up to speed on the most important appointments in the region.

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