Foundation in Life Underwriting

Chan Lai Cheng holds a Bachelor of Arts (Major in Economics) from the University of Malaya and is a seasoned insurance professional with more than 30 years of experience in underwriting across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Australia. She has extensive expertise in life, critical illness, medical, disability, and income protection underwriting, as well as underwriting operations, technical development, and professional capability building.

Throughout her distinguished career, she has undertaken diverse roles spanning underwriting, new business operations, customer onboarding, system migration, and process improvement initiatives. She played a pioneering role in the development and launch of Malaysia’s first automated underwriting system, contributing to the transformation of underwriting efficiency and consistency within the industry. Her work in automation and operational design helped set new benchmarks for underwriting productivity and service delivery.

A defining milestone in her professional journey was establishing and leading underwriting training academies in two multinational shared service hubs, where she designed and built full-fledged underwriting syllabi and structured training methodologies from the ground up. These academies successfully developed more than 100 fully trained underwriters from fresh graduates, many of whom have progressed into senior leadership and specialist roles across insurance and reinsurance organisations in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia.

Notably, her underwriting training syllabus and practical training methods continue to be used to train fresh graduates today, reflecting the enduring relevance and effectiveness of the frameworks she developed. Her contribution to talent development has had a lasting impact on underwriting standards and professional capability within the regional insurance industry.

Chan Lai Cheng most recently retired from full-time employment in 2025, after decades of service in underwriting and operations leadership roles within the insurance industry. She continues to contribute actively to the insurance and protection community through education, writing, mentoring, and industry development initiatives.

She currently serves as an HRD Corp Accredited Trainer and a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the Resource Pool of the Asian Institute of Insurance, supporting the development of professional standards and technical competency for insurance practitioners.

She is the editor of the Asian Institute of Insurance textbook Life and Disability Insurance Underwriting, contributing to the development of structured technical learning materials for insurance professionals and future underwriters. She is the creator and author of the Too Glam Series under the Stories of Protection theme, published under the professional author name LC CHAN. The series combines humour, practical underwriting insights, and real-world lessons to help insurance professionals understand risk, responsibility, and the long-term impact of protection decisions. The five-book series has sold more than 100 printed copies, with many additional copies distributed through eBook editions on major digital platforms.

In addition, she hosts the LC Chan Podcast– Stories of Protection, where she shares real-life cases, industry lessons, and professional reflections aimed at raising awareness about protection planning, disclosure integrity, and ethical insurance practices.