Asia Pacific is recovering from 2011 says Aon

According to Aon Benfield’s Evolving Criteria report, which reviews the latest developments in rating agency protocol and impact for the insurance industry in the Asia Pacific region, the regional insurance markets have slowly recovered from 2011.

The report credits strong economic growth, high premium growth expectations, market liberalisation and an inflow of investments with the slow but steady recovery. Headwinds include the persistent low interest rate environment, tightened regulatory solvency requirements and the possibility of an economic slowdown in China.

Rade Musulin, COO of Aon Benfield Analytics Asia Pacific, said: “these offsetting factors are evident in Standard and Poor’s five-year view of ratings actions across Asia Pacific, and create a level of uncertainty for the Asia Pacific insurance markets which makes operating conditions somewhat more difficult. However, whereas 2012 was dominated by ratings downgrades as a result of the 2011 catastrophic losses, 2-13 has seen a rebound in upgrades, reflecting the re-strengthening of companies’ balance sheets.”