2019, the year of all challenges

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The first task at hand for the insurance business is how to achieve growth in such an uncertain environment. Not only are they up against already existent structural impediments such as unemployment and human migration, but they also have to consider other concerns. Everyone is fully aware that Chinese economic slowdown. The rise of protectionism and populism, civil wars and the possible painful Brexit, in addition to the spectrum of a new financial crisis will strain growth.

From a regulatory standpoint, 2019 is poised to be equally complicated, with regulators more determined than ever to monitor insurers’ activities. Solvency, protection of policyholders, conformity, transparency and information are the key words which will overshadow administrative directives during ongoing year.

At the technical level, the emergence of cyber risks is most worrying. Insurers are asked and over-pressed to meet ever-growing coverage demands tainted with huge loss potential. Likewise, the risks pertaining to terrorism, data protection and supply chains will be issues of concern.

The last challenge relates to technological breakthroughs that are compounding the misery of the insurers turning the industry upside down. Digitization is no longer an option with insurers bound to come to grips with this obligation. Although big data, artificial intelligence [2] and digitization require big investments, they stand as a huge window of opportunities. To cope with these new challenges, everyone will be set on the starting file. Only the boldest ones will dare steer through this uncertainty.

Atlas Magazine N°158, February 2019 [1]