Page 17 - Insurance Times March 2016 Sample
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Aon partners with Cata- Insurance claims from natural disasters decline in 2015
maran Ventures to set Insurance claims from natural disas- "We were somewhat fortunate in
ters such as storms and earthquakes 2015, strong tropical cyclones only hit
up a broking unit fell to $27 billion in 2015 as the overall sparsely populated areas or did not
cost of natural catastrophes dropped make landfall at all," said Peter
Aon Global has said that it has to its lowest level since 2009, reinsurer Hoeppe, Head - Geo Risks Research
partnered with Munich Re said.
N. R. Narayana Unit, Munich Re.
Murthy's pri-
vate investment The climatic phenomenon Reinsurance broker Willis Re
firm Catamaran known as 'El Nino' had had said that reinsurance
Ventures to set helped to reduce the devel- prices continued to fall for
up a new opment of hurricanes in the contracts taking effect at
broking unit. North Atlantic last year, which tradi- the start of 2016 and that predictions
tionally cause some of the heaviest of an end to the multi-year decline had
Aon had in 2003 partnered with Glo- claims for the insurance industry, the proved illusory.
bal Insurance Services - an insurance world's largest reinsurer said in its an-
consultancy firm promoted by nual review of natural catastrophes. "The January renewals have unfortu-
Prabodh Thakkar. Global Insurance nately confounded the hopes of com-
Services was a leading player in the Insurance claims totalled $31 billion in mentators that the market was reach-
Indian reinsurance broking industry 2014 and were also below the 10-year ing a pricing floor," Willis Re Chief Ex-
and had a correspondent relation- average of $56 billion, Munich Re said. ecutive John Cavanagh said.
ship with Aon for 20 years before the
JV. While Aon has said that it is exit- Ageing population drives Japan's life insurance premiums
ing the joint venture over differ-
ences with its partner over the long- Japan's rapidly aging population has direct written premium of JPY5.1 tril-
term vision, the exit has not been created demand for both post-retire- lion (US$47.8 billion) in 2014.
formalized yet. ment and savings insurance products.
According to a report by According to Timetric, Japan's combi-
"We are very excited about finding Timetric, in the next five nation of low birth rates
a partner of the calibre of Catama- years this demand is set to and increasing life ex-
ran. We know Murthy's old company increase, supporting the pectancy will increase
very well and, in some way; the re- strong performance of demand for post-retire-
lationship is not just about the new whole life, pension and ment products in the
JV in India but also a broader part- term insurance products. next five years. Conse-
nership with Catamaran around the quently, the direct writ-
world. They have in their stable a During the last five years, the life in-
whole bunch of other things around surance segment was driven by de- ten premium share of the pension in-
technology where they can add mand for traditional products. The in- surance category is forecast to rise
value not only to Aon and its group dividual whole life category accounted from 19.2% in 2014 to 21.2% in 2019.
companies but also to Aon clients," for 80.3% of the segment's direct writ-
said Sandeep Malik, CEO, Aon Risk ten premium in 2014, with a value of An aging population has a significant
Solutions. JPY21.2 trillion (US$199.9 billion). The effect on life insurers in Japan. High
pension insurance category was the competition in the industry is prompt-
According to Malik, the plan was for second-largest in the segment, with a ing life insurers to reduce premium
Catamaran to set up a shell com- rates and add new distribution chan-
pany and apply for an insurance nels.
broking licence from the IRDAI in
partnership with Aon. Aon would Despite challenges, Austria's life insurance is on the
then seek foreign investment permis- road to recovery
sion to pick up a 49% stake in the
venture. Over the review period (2010-2014), life insurance premiums in Austria fell from
€7.5billion ($9.9 billion) to €6.7 billion ($8.9 billion), with the government's regu-
latory measures not being beneficial to the growth prospects of the sector.
However, there are reasons for optimism in the industry due to its high growth
potential, according to the recent study by Timetric.
The Insurance Times, March 2016 17
