Atlas Magazine N°211, May 2024
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This is a far cry from the Covid years, when the entire economy, not just the insurance sector, almost sank into a black hole, wiped out forever by a virus.
Unprecedented in its abruptness, scale and consequences, the pandemic has triggered major upheavals, impacting insurers' financial health and stability.
On the technical front, the upsurge in the number of claims forced insurers to set aside substantial claims reserves, reducing their underwriting results and their ability to generate profits. Another concern is that falling interest rates and volatile financial markets have resulted in a decline in investment income, threatening the solvency of companies and their balance sheets.
To avoid having their ratings downgraded, insurers had to urgently strengthen their capital base and restore their solvency.
Although figures vary from company to company, depending on a number of factors, all insurers have suffered in one way or another from Covid-19. Lloyd's of London, for example, reported losses of 8.59 billion USD in 2020, the year most affected by the pandemic.
Swiss Re, for its part, posted a loss of 878 million USD, following a Covid-19 bill of 3.9 billion USD.
Finally, still for 2020, the pandemic set Munich Re back 4.1 billion USD.
