Insurance outperforms financial services peers

Business volumes and sentiment up in fourth quarter of 2018

Insurance outperforms financial services peers

Insurance News

By Terry Gangcuangco

If results of the latest financial services survey from CBI and PwC are anything to go by, it looks like it’s not all doom and gloom for the insurance industry.

While total business volumes as well as sentiment among financial services both went down in the final three months of 2018, the quarterly survey showed a different story for insurance.

“The deterioration of sentiment among investment managers, banks, and building societies was particularly widespread,” read the 20-page CBI/PwC report. “By contrast, sentiment rose among life insurers and insurance brokers and was stable in the general insurance sector.

“Overall business volumes fell in the three months to December, the weakest performance since September 2013. The headline balance concealed a marked divergence between sectors, with rising volumes in all three insurance sub-sectors offset by flat or falling volumes in the three lending sub-sectors and the steepest fall in activity among investment managers since the financial crisis.”

Overall, 32% of the surveyed financial institutions said business volumes were down while 24% said they were up.

“With new risks and demands come opportunities,” commented CBI chief economist Rain Newton-Smith. “Insurers in particular are pulling ahead, many of whom are moving into areas such as asset management outside of their traditional markets.”

Of the 84 responding firms, 11 came from general insurance; four, life insurance; and 14, insurance brokers.

 

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