Perspectives
2019 Insurance Industry Outlook
Strategies to stay competitive in the insurance market
Sustained economic growth, rising interest rates, and higher investment income contributed to a strong year for insurers in 2018. With 2019 shaping up to be banner year, longer term challenges like the potential for economic slowdown and ongoing disputes over tariffs and trade rules may cast a shadow on the insurance market outlook.
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2019 Insurance Industry Outlook: Growing economy bolsters insurers, but longer-term trends may require transformation
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2019 insurance outlook: Long-term challenges call for transformation
January 8, 2:00 p.m. ET
An improving economy and rising interest rates are helping bolster insurer bottom lines. But the industry still faces plenty of opportunities and threats in the year ahead, including economic, cultural, regulatory, and technological. We’ll discuss:
- Growth prospects and potential speed bumps in property, casualty, life insurance, and annuities.
- New oversight hurdles emerging globally in market conduct, privacy, and cyber risk management.
- Options for reinventing product development, talent, and automation.
Participants will learn what changes in operations and investments may be necessary to help insurers grow and thrive in a dynamic environment where innovation can make a critical difference.
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- Get ahead of coming insurance regulatory trends to better guide your compliance strategies, actions, and investments. Read the Insurance Regulatory Outlook.
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- Learn more about the Deloitte Center for Financial Services.
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In today’s rapidly evolving marketplace environment, key business issues are converging with impacts felt across multiple industry sectors. What are the key trends, challenges, and opportunities that may affect your business and influence your strategy? Look for more perspectives and insights from some of Deloitte’s forward thinkers.
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Endnotes
1 Matthew Lerner, “Economic growth helps insurers, reinsurers in 2018,” Business Insurance, August 14, 2018.
2 Deloitte Center for Financial Services analysis of consolidated insurance industry statistics from S&P Global through June 30, 2018.
3 Neil Spector and Robert Gordon, “Property/Casualty Insurance Results: 2017,” ISO/PCI, May 14, 2018.
4 Deloitte Center for Financial Services analysis of consolidated industry results from S&P Global.
5 “World insurance in 2017: Solid, but mature life markets weigh on growth,” Sigma No 3/2018, Swiss Re Institute, July 5, 2018.
6 Ibid.
7 “Losses from natural disasters at 13-year low in H1 – Munich Re,” Reuters, July 11, 2018.
8 “RAA releases underwriting results for first six months of 2018,” Press release, Reinsurance Association of America, August 21, 2018.
9 “2Q individual life insurance new premium grows at 2 percent,” InsuranceNewsNet, August 29, 2018.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 “LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute forecasts total annuity sales to improve through 2019,” LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute, June 7, 2018.
13 Richard Rubin and Anne Tergesen, “Retirement bills in Congress could alter 401(k) plans,” Wall Street Journal, updated July 17, 2018.
14 Natalie Wong and Katherine Chiglinsky, “Canadian firms to shed billions in pension risk this year,” ThinkAdvisor.com, August 8, 2018.
15 Lee Barney, “LIMRA reports strong pension buy-out activity in 2018,” PlanSponsor.com, August 27, 2018.
16 Jeff Sommer, “Vanguard warns of worsening odds for the economy and markets,” New York Times, August 10, 2018.
17 Matt Phillips, “What’s the yield curve? ‘A powerful indicator of recessions’ has Wall Street’s attention,” New York Times, June 25, 2018.
18 “CFO Insights – Cloud computing: Resolving some sticky questions,” Deloitte, August 2018. Cloud adoption in insurance: Trends and issues, Novarica, March 2018.
20 Matt Asay, “How Allstate boosted developer productivity by 350 percent with the cloud,” TechRepublic, August 26, 2016.
21 “InsureCloud: On-Demand Insurance Platform,” Deloitte, 2018.
22 “ICT Enterprise Insights 2016/17, 2017/18, and 2018/19 – Financial Services & Payments: Insurance,” Ovum, September 2018.
23 David Linthicum, “Finding the killer cloud-based machine learning applications,” Deloitte on Cloud Blog, August 16, 2018.
24 Katherine Noyes, “Insurers take to the cloud,” Deloitte Insights for CEOs published in the Wall Street Journal, April 30, 2018.
25 Gabriel Olano, “AIA Hong Kong debuts blockchain bancassurance solution,” Insurance Business Asia, November 17, 2017.
26 Gabriel Olano, “Hong Kong blockchain motor insurance project in the works,” Insurance Business Asia, April 14, 2018.
27 “AXA goes blockchain with fizzy,” AXA website, September 13, 2017.
28 Mark Hollmer, “Insurers looking to continue hiring in very competitive labor market,” Insurance Journal, August 29, 2018.
29 Ibid.
30 Darryl Wagner, Tony Johnson, Nate Pohle, and James Dunseth, “Evolution of the actuary,” Deloitte Consulting LLP, 2018.
31 “The robots are coming: The future of the actuary,” 2018 presentation, Deloitte Consulting LLP.
32 “Contingent and alternative employment arrangements,” News release, Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 7, 2018.
33 YouGov survey for Deloitte UK, February 2018.
34 Kevin Sharps, Chin Ma, Michele van Rensburg, and Nikias Stefanakis, “Embracing digital disruption: Consumer buying preferences and life insurance in a digital age,” Deloitte Insights, August 2018.
35 “On-demand insurance agency Trōv expands into U.S., launches in Arizona,” Insurance Journal, July 5, 2018.
36 Oliver Ralph, “Bought by Many expands niche insurance role,” Financial Times, January 16, 2017.
37 Mindy Hamlin, “Insurance giant Liberty Mutual backs Triangle startup offering drone insurance, other insurtech,” WRAL TechWire, June 29, 2018.
38 Ben Dyson, “Insurers ‘need to get better’ at backing new ideas, say startup brokers,” S&P Global Market Intelligence, July 16, 2018.
39 Ibid.
40 Charles Juniper, 2018 Trends to watch: Insurance, Ovum, October 17, 2017.
41 “The Hartford signs agreement to acquire Navigators, a global specialty underwriter,” Press release, The Hartford Newsroom, August 22, 2018.
42 “Hartford to sell run-off life, annuity business for $2.05 billion,” Insurance Journal, December 4, 2017.
43 Maitree Christian, “Voya Financial selling certain annuity businesses to investor group,” S&P Global Market Intelligence, December 21, 2017.
44 Bethan Moorcraft, “AmFam and Main Street America announce merger plans,” Insurance Business magazine, May 7, 2018.
45 Sam Friedman, Malika Gandhi, and Mark Purowitz, InsurTech entering its second wave: Investment focus shifting from new startups to more established innovators, Deloitte Center for Financial Services, October 2018.
46 UK Financial Conduct Authority, Our Mission 2017: How we regulate financial services, FCA, 2017.
47 Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America et al v. United States Department of Labor; R. Alexander Acosta, Secretary, US Department of Labor, 17- 10238 (Fifth Circuit), filed March 15, 2018.
48 New York State Department of Financial Services, “DFS issues final life insurance and annuity suitability and best interests regulation protecting consumers from conflicts of interest,” Press release, July 18, 2018.
49 Eric Rosenbaum, “Fidelity one-ups Vanguard, Schwab and iShares, becoming first company to offer a no-fee index fund,” CNBC, August 1, 2018.
50 Sam Friedman, Michelle Canaan, and Nikhil Gokhale, “Voice of the annuities consumer: Exploring innovative approaches to accelerate annuities market growth,” Deloitte University Press, 2015.
51 International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), “Climate change and climate-related risk: What it means for insurance supervisors,” presentation, Moscow, July 27, 2018.
52 Financial Stability Board, “Climate-related financial disclosures,” web page, accessed 2018.
53 Ibid.
54 James Andrew Lewis, Economic impact of cybercrime – No slowing down, Center for Strategic and International Studies in cooperation with McAfee, February 21, 2018.
55 Insurance Information Institute, “A firm foundation: How insurance supports the economy,” website, accessed 2018.
56 Juan-Carlos Crisanto, “Outsourcing to the cloud and other IT service providers - emerging prudential approaches in the insurance industry,” Financial Stability Institute, Bank for International Settlements, July 2018.
57 Jon Laux, Alexa Yakely, and Craig Kerman, US cyber market update: 2017 US cyber insurance profits and performance, Aon Benfield, July 2018.
58 “Cyber insurance market to double by 2020, says Munich Re,” Advisen Front Page News, published September 9, 2018.
59 Cyber insurance market watch survey: Executive summary, Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, July 30, 2018.
60 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council, April 27, 2016. The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, Assembly Bill 375, Chapter 55, State of California, June 29, 2018.
61 The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, Assembly Bill 375, Chapter 55, State of California, June 29, 2018. Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council, April 27, 2016.
62 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council, April 27, 2016.
63 Ibid.
64 Ibid.
65 Ibid.
66 The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, Assembly Bill 375, Chapter 55, State of California, June 29, 2018.
67 Ibid.
68 2021 countdown underway: Insurers prepare for IFRS 17 implementation, Deloitte China, 2018.
69 Ibid.
70 OECD, Tax Policy Reforms 2018: OECD and selected partner economies, OECD Publishing, Paris 2018.
71 “North American Property/Casualty Insurers’ Midyear 2018 Results,” Fitch, August 28, 2018.
