12th September 2021

Newslink Insurance Global Trends-Editor's Weekly Highlights

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This week, Lloyd’s announced an aggregated profit of £1.4bn for the first half of 2021(HY 2020: £0.4bn loss), driven by a substantially improved underwriting result of £1bn. Gross written premiums increased to £20.5bn(HY 2020: £20bn) due to an increase in premium rates, high customer retention and new growth for the first time in four years. Premium rates increased by 9.9%, continuing the trend of 15 consecutive quarters of positive rate movement. The combined ratio of 92.2 (HY 2020: 110.4 and 97 excluding COVID-19 claims for FY 2020) is a solid improvement with a 4.8 percentage point reduction on the previous year, excluding COVID-19. With another Virtual Monte Carlo Rendezvous beginning tomorrow, the major reinsurers were setting out their strategy and latest research-Munich Re said "Identifying future trends and engaging in risk partnerships on new technologies are at the heart of Munich Re’s strategy. With cyber continuing to be a strategic growth market, the increase in ransomware attacks calls for greater prevention. Data analytics and artificial intelligence are future trends–and Munich Re is leading the way with a network of partnerships and worldwide expertise. Market conditions in primary insurance and reinsurance continue to develop favourably." The Swiss Re Institute expects insurance market premium growth to continue, driven by increased exposures, risk awareness and evolving client needs, with global p & c premiums forecast to more than double to $4.3tr by 2040. At its annual Investor Day 2021, SCOR's Executive Committee, led by Laurent Rousseau, ceo, presented an overview of the extension of the “Quantum Leap” strategic plan building on its global tier 1 reinsurer position and creating sustainable value for its stakeholders. Global reinsurers performed well in the first half of 2021 with a further expansion of their capital bases and strong headline underwriting results and ROEs-underlying ROEs, while less strong, were nonetheless noticeably improved, according to the latest Reinsurance Market Report from Willis Re. Fitch said the global reinsurance sector outlook was improving for 2022.
The Global Federation of Insurance Associations(GFIA)said in response to the IAIS that supervision should be based on clear legal standards, not subjective metrics like insurer culture. Insurance Europe responded to ESMA for advice on digital finance, and replied to the EC on its proposals for a regulation on artificial intelligence(AI).
Forrester reported that InsurTech funding in the second quarter remained strong, and also issued a new report headed "The State Of Customer Obsession In Insurance". Texas-based Germania Insurance subscribed to Guidewire InsuranceSuite in Guidewire Cloud for business growth-the software supplier also released fiscal year 2021 results. HDI Global entered the autonomous vehicle sector following a deal with AutoGuardian by Smartcone in Canada, and HDI Global Specialty(HDS) selected Sapiens to accelerate growth and enable faster time-to-market. Majesco launched Insight Driven Underwriting Workbench–Majesco Digital Underwriter360 for P&C, and ProLion highlighted five things an employer needs to instil in remote teams to halt the rise of ransomware. Willis Towers Watson is to partner with Applied Systems to enhance real-time pricing.
A new hybrid working philosophy was launched by Atradius, and AXA and Bharti completed the combination of their non-life operations in India into ICICI Lombard. Davies announced the acquisition of Asta subject to regulatory approval. Zurich deepened emissions cuts and added green options for customers. Willis Towers Watson outlined its growth strategy at its Investor Day.




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