Kelvin Wu
Group assistant general manager
Risk management & insurance, International SOS
Personal bio: I come from the city-state of Singapore, one of the leading captive domiciles in Asia Pacific. Sports is a passion of mine and when I’m not watching my favourite football team Liverpool, my weekends are usually spent competing in the local leagues in either field hockey, floorball or football. I also love to read and recently finished Sapiens and Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari, which was fascinating in both their granularity and big picture insights.
Professional profile: I double-majored in economics and finance at the Singapore Management University. Initially, I started my career as a risk management consultant in the consulting practice of a global insurance brokerage with JLT. I then joined International SOS as the group risk manager, where I manage the global insurance portfolio, which encompasses the company’s global operations in 94 countries. Concurrently, I am also a founding board member of PARIMA.
What/who have been your influences in the captive industry? My colleagues and bosses who first recruited me into the risk consulting practice and gave me my first exposure to the captive industry. Their professionalism, knowledge and expertise set the benchmark and standards that I have strived to hold myself to ever since.
What is your impression of the industry?
That despite the widespread adoption of captives by companies around the world, it is still not a well understood concept compared to the more traditional risk financing and insurance solutions. At the same time, companies who utilise captives are generally seen to be the more mature and sophisticated in terms of their risk financing strategy, and thus the captive industry serves as a great signalling tool.
What are your aspirations for your career in the captive industry?
I believe that captives have a crucial role to play in the overall risk financing strategy of a company, and when leveraged properly can add great strategic value to the business. I hope to be able to continue to educate and raise the awareness of captives, both in my capacity as a risk manager and also as a board member of PARIMA.
What advice do you have for someone considering a role in the industry?
That it can be a hidden gem in the traditional insurance industry, which can be quite fulfilling and rewarding.
George McGhie, managing director, captive practice, Willis Towers Watson “I have worked with Kelvin Wu since he started in the industry, and have seen him progress from a promising graduate trainee to a leading light in Asia’s risk management community. In his current role, he has successfully applied that knowledge to the benefit of his employer in a very practical sense. He uses his leading role at PARIMA to advance professional risk management techniques, including the use of captives.”
