“Even within the face of a difficult financial setting, insurance coverage stays a vibrant, resilient and rising trade – and reaching the $7 trillion mark for international premiums is a significant milestone,” stated Swiss Re’s group chief economist Jerome Haegeli. “However, these will not be simple occasions, and the insurance coverage trade might want to hold an in depth eye on inflation. As the world will get dearer, so do the prices of accidents and pure catastrophes, and this makes claims dearer.”
The international financial system’s sharp decline, coupled with a decades-high inflation, will weigh on whole premium progress, Swiss Re warned, leading to a below-average 1.2% annual common progress in actual phrases over 2022 and 2023. It will improve declare prices for non-life insurance coverage, with profitability strain rising most in traces the place provide shortages are main to cost will increase on high of total inflation, equivalent to property and motor. High wage and healthcare inflation can also be pushing up the price of claims for casualty and medical insurance.
There is a silver lining, nonetheless. “As central banks take motion to fight inflation, larger rates of interest will assist insurers’ profitability within the medium time period,” Haegeli stated.
Rising declare prices will lengthen price hardening, in impact restoring underwriting profitability and paving the way in which for actual premium progress in 2023.
Life premiums are forecast to extend by 4.8% in nominal phrases in 2022 and attain $3.1 trillion by year-end. Although this equates to a 0.2% contraction in inflation-adjusted phrases, they are going to return to progress in 2023. Heightened threat consciousness, demand for protection-type merchandise publish pandemic, and a subsiding quantity in COVID-19-related claims will assist improved profitability in life insurance coverage.
Non-life premiums will rise by 7.1% in nominal phrases in 2022 – a 0.8% progress accounting for inflation – reaching $4.1 trillion by year-end. Swiss Re forecast an extra 2.2% premium progress in actual phrases in 2023 based mostly on ongoing price hardening, with business traces going stronger than private traces.
The US stays the most important insurance coverage market on the earth, with $2.7 trillion whole premium accounting for slightly below 40% of whole international insurance coverage quantity based mostly on 2021 numbers. It is adopted by China, with $0.7 trillion in premium, or 10.1% of worldwide insurance coverage quantity. Japan is available in third, accounting for five.9% of worldwide insurance coverage quantity.
Rounding out the 5 largest insurance coverage markets on the earth are Europe’s strongest gamers. The UK accounts for five.8% of the overall international insurance coverage quantity and confirmed robust progress in nominal phrases in 2021, its whole premium volumes rising by 16.7%. France holds a 4.3% market share in international insurance coverage quantity however confirmed equally spectacular progress in whole premium volumes, which rose by 24% the identical yr.
