SRA celebrates 40th Anniversary with Gala Reception and Charity Art Auction

SRA celebrated its 40th anniversary on Wednesday (22 May) with a gala reception at the historic CHIJMES Hall, Singapore.

Guest-of-honour Ms Ho Hern Shin, Assistant Managing Director (Banking & Insurance), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), graced the reception, which was attended by over 200 guests from the local, Malaysian and UK insurance and reinsurance communities, as well as former SRA Chairmen Mr K.T. Phua and Mr Christopher Ho and former SRA Executive Committee (EXCO) members.

In his opening address, SRA Chairman Marc Haushofer spoke about the need for SRA to evolve to stay relevant to its members’ needs in the future economy.

“Encouraged by the progressive and supportive policies of the MAS, Singapore has grown to become a leading global reinsurance hub. SRA will continue to evolve to serve its members as the global economy and industry transform on the back of rapid technological advances in digitalisation, AI, blockchain and data analytics”, said Haushofer.

The highlight of the reception was a charity art auction in aid of SRA’s chosen beneficiary ‘Save The Children’, a leading international NGO that improves the lives of children through better education, health care and economic opportunities, as well as providing emergency aid in natural disasters, war and other conflicts.

“‘Save The Children’ was chosen as SRA’s beneficiary as we share a common vision in providing emergency response in times of crises, rehabilitating livelihoods and building resilience for a better, sustainable future”, added Haushofer.

Conducted by SRA’s Women-in-Reinsurance (WiRE) sub-committee and led by guest auctioneer Jeremy Fox, Chairman – Asia Pacific, Guy Carpenter, the painting ‘Singapore Skyline’, a collaborative art work depicting Singapore’s vibrant cultural tapestry and the inclusiveness and diversity in the Singapore reinsurance landscape, was put up for auction. (See Appendix for more details)

Following a heated five-way bidding war, Bobby A. Heerasing, Chief Executive of Asia Capital Reinsurance Group, placed the winning bid of SGD6,000 for the painting. As earlier promised in his opening address, Haushofer announced that SRA would top up the bid with a SGD10,000 donation to ‘Save the Children’.

Earlier that afternoon, at the SRA’s 40th Annual General Meeting, the three longest serving EXCO members – Marc Haushofer, Desmond Tan and James Beedle – were retired by rotation and re-elected to serve on the EXCO for the 2019/2020 term, together with the standing EXCO members - Till Boehmer, Ann Chua, Philip Hough, Angela Kelly, Kenrick Law, Christoph Spichtig and Theresa Wee.

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