Introduction and Career Overview: Could you please introduce yourself and share a brief summary of your insurance career?

My name is May Zaw and I have been an aviation commercial and an insurance professional for more than a decade. I am a graduate of BA (German), where coincidentally when I was in my first year of my university, the first semester of final exam, we had an unseen comprehensive paragraph called “Versicherung’’ in German means ‘’ Insurance’’. Since then, it certainly intrigued me how insurance can protect our daily lives and build a better future by transferring our risks systematically. I had a chance to dive into the industry even more since COVID-19 hit the whole world.

What motivated you to take on the role of Country Representative at Poe-Ma Insurances Myanmar?

The industry itself is so vast, I can learn a lot, most importantly, in our country it is a new industry and I want to be a part of the main group who drive and contribute to society for the betterment of the future of our people and since Poe-ma has the exact same philosophy, I decided to join them.

Industry Changes: What were the key factors that led to the 2023 change in Country Representative at Poe-Ma Insurances Myanmar? How do these changes reflect the overall trends in the Myanmar insurance industry?

Myanmar is going through a critical period in which all international insurance players who provide modern insurance solutions have abandoned the Country. Poe-ma is alone at the moment trying to continue to provide these modern solutions with all the difficulties that this generates given that there are fewer and fewer reinsurers agreeing to support our business.

But we believe that we must provide the people and investors in Myanmar with all the help and service they have the right to expect.

And to achieve such a goal, Poe-ma needed to restructure very strongly the management in Yangon with strong and trusted colleagues…

Market Positioning: How would you describe the current position of the insurance industry in Myanmar? What unique challenges and opportunities does this market present?

The current situation in the insurance field is truly very difficult and disturbing because, as stated above as well as the following:

• There are fewer and fewer international reinsurers available,
• So fewer and fewer solutions,
• It is becoming very difficult for customers to pay their premium in USD outside of Myanmar as well as inside,
• Local insurers try to attract customers by offering conditions that are not always adapted to the needs of customers but by allowing them to pay their premium in Kyat, etc.

The challenge for Poe-ma is to survive while waiting for better days and above all to always offer modern and adapted solutions for customers during this waiting period as per their requirements. Even though it may take time for us to find reinsurers we are confident that we can find them and ensure the coverages required are met.

Strategic Differentiation: As a member of FMCCI, how do you plan to leverage this association to benefit the insurance industry in Myanmar? Are there specific initiatives with FMCCI that could enhance the visibility of the insurance sector?

We are aware that we are not very visible and that customers in need are not necessarily aware of our existence.

The association with the FMCCI would inform members that there is still at least one international and serious solution for all their insurance problems.

We have never been in favor of noisy communication in the form of often misleading advertising, etc. We are more in favor of just studying the possibility of making ourselves known and finding us if necessary.

Future Vision: Could you provide a glimpse into the long-term vision for the insurance industry in Myanmar, particularly regarding product services and market growth? How does Poe-Ma Insurances fit into this vision?

As we have already pointed out, we have extensive experience in difficult countries which is a key component to our tenacious nature also from experience, we know that as soon as the country opens up again, many opportunistic players, brokers, and insurers, will return to the now simpler market promising “mountains and wonders”.

We have already experienced this situation, particularly in Myanmar in 2013...

But we will have to adapt to this new situation by ensuring that our customers remember that we were there when everything was going wrong!

For this, we must be irreproachable when it comes to the service, devotion, and technical work that our customers have the right to expect.