What a year it has been for the global insurance market!  Households' and businesses' lack of confidence stemming from the US and global economies, global regulatory mandates, fluctuation in the stock markets and the historic number of catastrophes worldwide that ultimately increased  claims, all had significant impact on company profits and growth. All of these factors are putting the insurance market in a transitional state with regard to rates.

We are seeing continued focus on lowering expenses and heightened emphasis on developing new revenue streams through product innovation and other channels, expanding market footprint and enhancing customer service. Many insurers we work with or spoke to are focusing on transformational work such as updating core operational systems like claims and policy.  However, their transformational efforts are less about technology and more about operational efficiency and ease of doing business. 

We are also seeing a greater demand for annuities, which is good news for the life companies.  According to a recent study I read, “many of the leading providers of annuities reported double-digit growth in sales in Q311 relative to Q310.”  It is clear that given the market volatility, many investors are seeing annuities as a way to save. 

Insurers are also trying to capitalize on the potential of emerging markets such as China, Africa, Latin America.  It will be interesting to see how this impacts the industry over the next few years.

The dynamic and volatile market continues to make this a wonderful industry to serve and operate in, and I continue to look for opportunities to leverage our expertise in the space to accelerate change and growth for our customers.

-Alex Bell, Insurance Industry Associate Partner, CGN Global