Dear Member,
Last month I conveyed to you the events of the Asian Claims Convention in Ho Chi Minh City, one of our most successful conferences ever, with almost 130 delegates. It only takes a day or two to rest from one conference before we turn our minds to the next one, expected to be in April 2018. The AICLA Board has decided to hold the 2018 conference in Bali, which will be the first time we have taken it to Indonesia, the 4th most populous country in the world. Indonesia is also one of our biggest supporters in Asia with almost 50 members.
For those of you with an interest in history (and anyone made to study for the exams!), you may recall the famous case of Carter v Boehm (1766), and the famous decision by Lord Mansfield in which he invented the doctrine of utmost good faith – the historic underpinning of our entire profession. The case was about the application to insure Fort Marlborough against attack by the French. The underwriter alleged that the insured knew of weaknesses in the fort and the likelihood of French attack, and had failed to disclose these facts. Until that time the concept of material facts had not been invented, however Lord Mansfield’s judgement developed this concept.
The relevance of this is that Fort Marlborough happens to be in Bengkalu, on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Although a flight away from Bali I am hoping to arrange a side-trip to visit the Fort a few days before the convention. Although it is about 10 months away, if this would interest any other members then please let me know.
One of the other activities last month was the President’s visit to Asia. Tony Libke and I visited members, CEOs and insurance institute representatives in Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Singapore. It was great to meet over 100 of the International Division members in a series of meetings across the region. It gave us a chance to outline to them developments within AICLA and, as we are an educational institute, we also arranged a technical presentation. Thank you to those members who attended the events, your participation and hospitality was very much appreciated.
There are many people who contribute to our ability to be of service to Asian members, but it is appropriate to thank Budi Maharesi, the International Division Chairman, and Jaye Kumar, the International Development Director. Particularly, under Jaye’s guidance the International Division has grown from 50 members in 2003 to 240 in 22 countries, as far afield as Uganda, UAE, and Germany! We have recently been in discussions with representatives in Myanmar about bringing the Claims Technician Course to that country
Finally, the Sydney Claims Convention is fast approaching us – less than four months away (21 September). It promises to be an excellent event and I encourage you to reserve the space in your diary now. Also for those of you, or your colleagues, who may be relatively new to the profession a Trainee Loss Adjusters Workshop will be held in Sydney on the 20th of September.
