Page 16 - Insurance Times August 2021

International

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Marine, aviation and tran- growing airline and marine fleet are ery in the aviation sector and uneven
strong growth drivers for insurers. progress of vaccines will continue to
sit insurance in Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific has also seen several insur- restrict the growth of aviation pre-
to reach US$14.5bn by ers withdrawing from MAT industry mium in the region this year."
2025 due to years of unsustainable losses
resulting from both man-made and Increased levels of person-
The marine, aviation and transit (MAT)
natural hazards and bottomed out pre-
insurance industry in Asia-Pacific is pro- alization hit the term as-
mium prices which resulted in reduced
jected to grow from US$11.2bn in
market capacity. surance market as more
2019 to US$14.5bn in 2025, in terms
of written premiums, according to For instance, Allianz, Swiss Re and As- insurtechs launch pay-as-
cot withdrew from Singapore while
GlobalData, a leading data and you-go life insurance
Axa-XL withdrew from hull underwrit-
analytics company.
ing in Hong Kong and marine liability Over the past year life insurers have
GlobalData's insight report, 'Global in Singapore in 2020. However, impact had to rethink their strategies, being
Marine, Aviation and Transit Insurance on premium price increase due to pushed to adopt greater levels of digi-
Market to 2025 - Key Business Lines, these market exits were mostly offset tal services and underwriting flexibility
Trends, Drivers, Challenges, Regula- by the entry of new players such as - an area where life insurers have typi-
tory Overview and Developments', re- China-based Donghai Marine Insur- cally lagged. While the direct channel
veals that MAT insurance industry in ance and the resurgence of Lloyd's was already gaining ground before the
Asia-Pacific will grow at a compound syndicate's presence in the region. COVID-19 pandemic, consumers' pref-
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.4%
Ms Mitra adds: "The enactment of erence for life insurance is bound to
over 2019-2025.
new sulfur limits as per the Interna- continue shifting even further in the
Deblina Mitra, Senior Insurance Ana- tional Maritime Organization ruling in coming years - especially as insurtech
lyst at GlobalData, comments: "Air- 2020 is a development that aims to are increasingly targeting the life in-
travel restrictions, supply chain disrup- tackle global warming contributed by surance market with pay-as-you-go life
tions and weak economy slowed the the maritime sector and is a focus area insurance, says GlobalData, a leading
industry's growth in 2020 in Asia-Pa- for insurers." data and analytics company.
cific." The regulation mandates shipowners GlobalData's 2020 UK Insurance Con-
Japan and China, which are among the to make changes in ship parts and fuel sumer Survey found that 24.8% of con-
top five global markets, collectively to comply with the standards. This ex- sumers visited a price comparison
accounted for 60% of Asia-Pacific's pre- poses insurers to high claim risk and can website (PCW) before purchasing term
miums in 2020. China's intricate pres- lead to increase in prices. assurance in 2020, up from 19.6% in
ence in global supply chain and its Ms Mitra concludes: "Delayed recov- 2019. In the non-mortgage-related

16 The Insurance Times, August 2021