Page 20 - Insurance Times November 2020

International

News

Motor insurance market in car insurance and pay-as-you-go (PAYG) disrupt the motor insurance industry in
products are being offered by motor the region.”
Asia-Pacific to surpass insurance companies to support sales at
US$257bn in 2023 a time when car usage is low due to China’s general insurance
The motor insurance market in the lockdown restrictions. For instance, in- industry growth to slow
Asia-Pacific region is projected to grow surance start-ups such as UbiCar, Real down in 2020 due to
from US$227.1bn in 2019 to and Kogan in Australia are offering pay-
US$257.8bn in 2023, in terms of writ- as-you-go insurance policies. COVID-19
ten premiums, according to Ms Mitra continues: “The premium for The China’s general insurance industry
GlobalData, a leading data and such policies is based on actual distance is forecast to grow by 3.8% in 2020,
analytics company. traveled, recorded via telematics de- compared to 5.7% registered in 2019,
vice installed in the car. It provides according to GlobalData, a leading
GlobalData’s insight report, ‘Global
greater flexibility as consumers will only data and analytics company.
Motor Insurance Market 2020’, re-
veals that the motor insurance market pay insurance based on their actual us- GlobalData has revised China’s general
age resulting in lower premium.”
in Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at a insurance forecast in the aftermath of
compound annual growth rate (CAGR) China-based insurer Ping An has a dedi- COVID-19 outbreak. As per the latest
of 3.2% during 2019–2023, supported cated innovation division – Ping An data, China’s general insurance indus-
by increase in demand for new vehicle Technology to gain efficiency in claims try is forecast to grow at a compound
sales from the rapidly growing middle settlement and customer engagement. annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2%
class population. For instance, its ‘510 ultra-speed on-site during 2019-2023 against the earlier
city inspection’ launched in 2018 con-
Deblina Mitra, Insurance Analyst at nects claims’ agents to accident site forecast of 8.6%, primarily due to the
GlobalData, comments: “Despite the within 10 minutes. Furthermore, it pro- scaling down of business activities and
current slowdown in growth due to vides claims management service using economic uncertainty imposed by the
COVID-19 pandemic, several countries AI-based image-recognition technology. pandemic.
are showing signs of recovery with re- This requires picture of damaged vehicle Sangharsan Biswas, Insurance Analyst
sumption in economic activity. China, to be uploaded, which then does loss at GlobalData, comments: “Despite
which accounts for 50% of the region’s assessment towards repair and other signs of recovery, the Chinese economy
motor insurance market, registered costs, within a minute. continues to grapple with sluggish busi-
16.4% growth in new vehicle sales in Ms Mitra concludes: “Motor insurance ness activity as new cases of infection
July 2020 on year-on-year basis, indi- industry is expected to see major are being reported. The recent floods
cating market recovery.” will further dampen economic growth,
changes over the next few years driven
Another key trend which can be ob- by technological developments. Fur- resulting in lower premium growth for
served in the motor insurance market ther advancement in motor industry in general insurers.”
is the pace of product innovations. New the area of connected cars and driver The slowdown is most evident in mo-
insurance products such as short-term assistance services has the potential to tor insurance segment, which ac-

20 The Insurance Times, November 2020