Insurance idol wary of old ladies with sticks

A GOOD KNOWLEDGE in mathematics helped Edmund Tse secure his first job in Hong Kong's largest life insurance company American International Assurance (AIA) in 1961, although he was not quite sure about calculating risks and setting prices for insurance policies.

Now, he is the chairman & chief executive of AIA and senior vice-chairman and co-chief operating officer of the US-parent American International Group (AIG), which has 180,000 agents worldwide and 21 million life policies. In Hong Kong, AIA has a 20 per cent market share and a team of 8,400 agents.

Mr Tse's contribution to the insurance industry was affirmed yesterday when he became the first Chinese and the 108th top insurance executive to be elected to the Insurance Hall of Fame - an honour given to individuals who have influenced insurance organisations in more than one country. The annual award is voted on by more than 1,000 chief executives.

The Informer spoke to Mr Tse about insurance development in China. He also gave a few good tips on football and why you should be careful when you are in Russia.

Q: Do you think Article 23 and the 500,000-strong march against it will affect foreign investors' confidence?

A: I don't think so. I believe businessmen have to take a long-term view. We are an insurance company and have got more than one million policyholders in Hong Kong, so we would not abandon the city because of short-term incidents or any protest.