The reinsurance industry must adapt to changing world
Reinsurance companies must evolve if they are to stay relevant in a rapidly changing world, Malcolm Steingold chief executive officer, Asia Pacific of Aon Benfield told SIRC Today.
“There’s an opportunity—probably the biggest opportunity that the industry has seen for maybe 30 years—for reinsurers to use different forms of capital to develop new and innovative products; that’s where the market’s going to get really interesting,” he said.
However, Steingold highlights that the fluidity of capital and underwriting expertise could attract new competition.
“There’s a new word in the English lexicon, Uberisation, which basically means disrupting the market—and there is potential for the insurance industry to be disrupted by an ‘Uber’,” he said.
“Google for example has made no secret of the fact that it is interested in getting into the insurance space. Now, when you think of the amount of data that it has access to, and if it were to marry that data up with underwriting expertise, and capital, it becomes quite a credible competitor—it could be a game-changer for the industry.
“So it’s a pretty exciting industry to be in, and rather than worry about all these structural changes I think that people should instead look at the new opportunities available to those players that are open-minded about it and willing to take it on and open up to it.”
Steingold added that with capital so plentiful, but the reinsurance market still roughly the same size, reinsurers needed embrace more innovation, in order to connect with their clients better.
