The Access to Insurance Initiative announces its new Executive Director
Henry Yan
The Access to Insurance Initiative (the Initiative) is pleased to announce that on 4th of May 2011 Henry Yan took up the position of Executive Director.
"It is a great pleasure to welcome Henry Yan as the new Executive Director of the Access to Insurance Initiative. We are thrilled at the opportunity to work with someone as experienced and enthusiastic as Mr. Yan. I am confident that this appointment will build on the existing strength of the Secretariat. It is important to continue to deepen and sustain the partnership to expand knowledge and build the capacity of supervisors”, says Jonathan Dixon (Financial Services Board, South Africa, Chair of the Governing Board of the Access to Insurance Initiative).
The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) welcomed the appointment and looks forward to the Initiative benefiting from Henry's professionalism and leadership. “The IAIS is looking to build stronger coordination and synthesis of work relating to financial inclusion and microinsurance implementation matters”, says Yoshihiro Kawai, IAIS Secretary General and member of the Governing Board of the Initiative.
Henry Yan's background is in financial services consulting, specialising in insurance and microinsurance, pensions and investments. Most recently, he was IBM's European corporate pensions actuary. His career covers many developed and developing markets across Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific and the USA. He joins the Initiative having had wide experience dealing with regulations and regulators on pension and insurance matters. Henry is a qualified actuary and CFA® charterholder.
After his first weeks leading the Secretariat, Henry said “I am inspired by the amount of activity under way and the professionalism and solidarity of the team. Nevertheless, there is much to do to fulfil the Initiative’s mandate. To this end, I very much look forward to these challenges.”
In his new position, the Executive Director will lead the Secretariat of the Initiative and will be responsible for its day to day operations. He will take on responsibility for project management and engagement with the Initiative’s global, bilateral and regional partner projects.
Outgoing acting-head of the Secretariat, Brigitte Klein (GIZ, Eschborn, Chair of the Advisory Committee and member of the Governing Board), adds that she is delighted that the Initiative has succeeded in the appointment of Henry Yan for this challenging task. She says that Henry’s thorough knowledge of financial regulation and policy as well as his excellent management and networking skills will be of great value in furthering the Initiative´s goals of promoting financial inclusion and advancing insurance markets to the benefit of improved access in many partner countries.
The Access to Insurance Initiative
The Access to Insurance Initiative is a global program supported by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and five other partners: the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the International Labour Office (ILO), FinMark Trust South Africa, and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). The Secretariat is hosted by German Technical Cooperation (GIZ) in Eschborn, Germany.
The Initiative is designed to strengthen the capacity of insurance supervisors, to facilitate their role in expanding access to insurance markets and to support the implementation of sound regulatory, supervisory policy frameworks consistent with international standards. For further information kindly consult our webpage www.access-to-insurance.org.
The Initiative generates knowledge and learning, implements capacity development of supervisors, contributes to IAIS standard setting and triggers market change in partnership with pilot countries. The country diagnostic is a core activity of the Initiative. It benefits from the high convening power among insurance supervisors and contributes to donor harmonization.
