A period of accelerated change in Insurance
Not that long ago we were talking in this forum about times of uncertainty in the insurance/reinsurance industry. Today the situation has become more acute. We are experiencing times of continuous change; a period of such transformation that today, while writing these lines, we are filled with numerous doubts as to what will happen tomorrow, doubts that will not have been resolved - if anything, they will have simply diversified - by the time you read this text. By then, the speculations as to when the Brexit process will start might have ended, with the new prime minister, Theresa May, clarifying the landscape by triggering a very complex exit process; at the same time perhaps the future of the Spanish government, or the need for elections in December, will already be clear; or the continuity - or not - of the positive trend with regards to natural disasters will continue the pattern we have seen since the beginning of the year. Who knows?
One area where it seems unlikely that we should expect many surprises is that of a crucial topic for our industry: interest rates. The situation as it currently stands, and which looks set to continue for a few years, is clearly one in which profitability is going to be difficult for the industry as a whole.
Within this context, everything indicates that we should expect lower returns on Reinsurance this year, although capitalization will remain strong. The forecasted drop in pricing will certainly have something to do with that - in a framework where intense competition and weak demand prevail. In addition, we are fortunately seeing a level of losses related to natural disasters below the average, at least in the markets we are concerned with (and in the context of continuous change that we referred to above).
This then is the starting point of the 34th Intereuropean Reinsurance Meeting (ENTRE 2016), an event, as you will see in the agenda, to review not just the current situation and outlook of both the Spanish and European economies, but also the situation of the Global Reinsurance market. The initial panel, titled “Have I seen this movie before?”, clearly expresses how professionals feel.
Of course, other important issues for today’s industry will also be addressed during the event, such as emerging risks (Internet of Things, the sharing economy, driverless cars, cyber risks, drones,...), the treatment of accumulation of risks in the framework of Solvency II, catastrophe geolocalization and modelization, new trends in Life insurance with specific references to the behavioral economy and predictive models in life insurance, and the impact of the new motor insurance scale, with regards to court rulings, renewals and to other insurance lines.
What more could you ask for?
Join the us at the Intereuropean Reinsurance Meeting (ENTRE 2016)