As the economic uncertainty accelerates and the fallout continues, markets begin to take comfort from the actions of policymakers, our latest weekly update contains fresh key data and insights to explain these trends.

The major ratings agencies have been busy revising their outlooks for the major financial sectors and for individual firms in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. They have been cautious in their re-assessments but some will make uncomfortable reading for insurers.

No events. No seminars. No roundtables. 

In short, there are few if any opportunities to exchange information, ideas and insights on how the Covid-19 pandemic will impact insurers’ balance sheets. But we do have the ability to do that digitally, given the wealth of data out there. The trouble is we are all being overwhelmed by information and are having to make huge adjustments to our lives alongside, making it difficult to distil what we really need.

Financial regulators around the world have recognised that the rapid escalation of the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic will require specific regulatory responses. For insurers, many of these have been quite prescriptive, especially on products and the need to ensure customers are treated fairly.

As the UK now moves inexorably towards the exit door from the European Union, reality will kick in says Erik Vynckier, Interim CEO, Foresters Friendly Society.  

He warns that we are now entering a period of extended uncertainty as the UK’s new relationship with the EU is hammered out. With the spectre of a hard Brexit at the end of 2020 still looming large, he urges CIOs to apply a mixture of caution and diligence as they monitor the impact it could have on their portfolios:

The final Insurance Investment Exchange seminar of 2019 looked back over 2019 and peered into the crystal ball to see what 2020 may hold for the insurance industry.