In our Insurance Sector report 2020 (“Recapitalisation – Launching into the Deep”), we highlighted the global insurance sector performance in 2019. The sector premiums reached $6.3tn in 2019 after scaling the $5.0tn mark in 2018 as the non-life segment surpassed forecast and reported a 3.5% growth in premiums to $3.4tn while the life segment premiums also increased 2.2% to $2.9bn mainly due to a recovery in China. Sigma research had expected both non-life and life premiums to contract by 1.0% and 1.5% respectively in 2020 similar to that of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008 due to the effects of the pandemic on the insurance business.
While we cannot ascertain the specifics of global insurance sector performance in 2020 as Sigma Research – the research subsidiary of a global insurance firm is yet to release its annual report, we have gleaned from the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) to obtain insights into performance. This is especially to examine the impact of the pandemic on the sector.
