For our next few podcast episodes we're going to share some of the audio from our recent virtual ILS Asia 2020 conference.

More than 850 attendees have now watched sessions from the virtual conference, a figure that keeps on rising.

To begin, this episode features Mr. Benny Chey, Assistant Managing Director (Development and International), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Mr. Chey discussed the role of Singapore in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, the activity it has seen in terms of catastrophe bond issuance and the importance of capital markets participation in provision of global insurance and reinsurance capacity.

In particular, Mr. Chey highlighted the role of ILS and catastrophe bonds in provision of catastrophe reinsurance, helping to narrow and close protection gaps in the Asia Pacific region and beyond.

He also revealed an expansion of the Singapore ILS grant scheme, which will now run until the end of 2022, providing a fantastic opportunity for insurance and reinsurance companies to bring cat bond or other ILS transactions to market in Singapore at lower-cost of issuance.