Natural Disasters - Chart: Natural Disasters on the Rise Around the Globe - by Katharina Buchholz

 MunichRe registered 820 natural disasters causing insured losses in 2019 - three times as many as thirty years ago. Some – but not all – of that rise can be chalked up to more people carrying insurance.

MunichRe estimates that the share of natural disaster losses which are insured only doubled since 1980.

Read more at:
• Chart: Natural Disasters on the Rise Around the Globe | Statista

The Netherlands: Insurance premiums to go up next year says Government

Read more at: 

https://nltimes.nl/2019/09/05/health-insurance-premiums-expected-increase-eu3-per-month-next-year-report

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Insurance Industry: Top insurance industry issues in 2017

Ongoing changes in technology, demography, and consumer needs and expectations continue to disrupt the insurance industry. Combined with recent regulatory and financial reporting developments, these changes are putting severe strain on traditional business models.

Many insurers are responding by reimagining their internal operations and business strategies, but the pace of change outside the industry has been relentless and even proactive companies are struggling to remain on the cutting edge.

Top Insurance Industry Issues in 2017 focuses on changing business and operating models and the key developments that are causing and being influenced by this change.

Read more: Top insurance industry issues in 2017: PwC

Insurance Industry: Autonomous cars could drive auto insurance to extinction - by Scott Mclaren

Autonomous cars on future roads could end the need for insurance

In a 2015 interview, Elon Musk pointed out that recent advances in auto technology could lead to human-operated vehicles becoming illegal someday.

While this may seem ludicrous to some, it could play out sooner than you think. By 2025 — just a few short years away — the auto industry’s autonomous segment is projected to reach a worth of $26 billion, according to insights from Bain & Company. Some estimates even project as many as 10 million self-driving cars will be on the road by 2020.

Musk’s prediction that human-controlled vehicles could be outlawed comes from not only an increase in autonomous options, but also for one simple reason: safety. It’s hard to imagine tech operation being safer than human operation, but vehicle safety statistics point to driver error as one of the top causes of auto accidents. In fact, more than 3,000 people were killed and 431,000 injured from distracted driving in 2014 alone, with contributing factors including cell phone usage, fatigue, aggressive driving, and running red lights. Although it’s far too early for statistical comparison, it’s fair to say that autonomous vehicles will face far fewer variables and will have greater predictability in certain driving situations.

Without driver error, will we need insurance at all?

In theory, removing human error from the roads means fewer accidents — which would also remove the need for private insurance that covers damage caused by drivers. In tandem, these two changes would lower accident liabilities and, theoretically, cause a huge drop in personal auto insurance premiums.

As it stands, auto insurers offer rates based on individual driving histories, and can even optimize each policy’s pricing via driver-approved telematics. As the insurance industry adapts to new technology saturating the market — turning drivers into mere passengers — the liability for accidents caused by autonomous vehicles could be handed off to the manufacturer, software designer, or even the government through the Department of Transportation. “

At least the current thinking is that the manufacturers will be ultimately responsible for a lot of these future accidents when an automated vehicle is involved,” said Rick Gorvett of the Casualty Actuarial Society.

But the Insurance Information Institute’s Michael Barry doesn’t think these changes will wipe out owner responsibility in total. Barry pointed out that driver error isn’t the only danger to vehicles, and owners and insurance companies will still have to factor in off-road damages that may occur. “Cars can still get flooded, damaged, or stolen,” he said, “but this technology will have a dramatic impact on underwriting. A lot of traditional underwriting criteria will beupended.

Read more: Autonomous cars could drive auto insurance to extinction | VentureBeat

Insurance Industry: U.S. and EU Sign Covered Agreement on Insurance Regulation

The United States and European Union have scheduled a ceremony for today for the signing of a bilateral agreement on prudential insurance and reinsurance measures.

Both sides announced in July their intention to sign the agreement, also known as a covered agreement in the U.S.

The parties believe the agreement represents a step forward in U.S. – EU cooperation on insurance and reinsurance. In a joint statement, they said it conveys “benefits to EU and U.S. insurers and reinsurers operating across the Atlantic by offering them regulatory certainty, while maintaining consumer protections.”

The agreement was negotiated by the Obama Administration in talks that began in 2015. It was announced on January 13, 2017 in the final days of the previous administration.

The agreement – which is a “covered agreement” in the meaning of the Dodd-Frank Act and an agreement under Article 218 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – addresses three areas of insurance oversight: reinsurance; group supervision; and the exchange of insurance information between supervisors.

With regard to reinsurance, it will “eliminate collateral and local presence requirements for EU and U.S. reinsurers operating in each other’s markets.”

Regarding group supervision, U.S. and EU insurers operating in the other’s markets “will only be subject to worldwide insurance group oversight by supervisors in their home jurisdiction.”

The agreement also encourages insurance supervisory authorities in the U.S. and the EU to continue to exchange supervisory information on insurers and reinsurers that operate in the U.S. and EU markets and it includes model information sharing memorandum of understanding provisions.

In their joint statement, the parties said they will now move forward to provisional application. The European Union will take the necessary steps, involving the Council and the European Parliament pursuant to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to formally conclude the agreement.

In January, the U.S. Treasury Department released a fact sheet on the agreement and said the final legal text of the agreement had been given to Congress as required by the Dodd-Frank Act.

Read more: U.S. and EU Sign Covered Agreement on Insurance Regulation

US Healthcare: Republican healthcare plan will cost 23 million people their coverage, CBO says - by L.Gambino and D.Rushe

The hastily redrawn Republican plan to overhaul Obamacare would leave an extra 23 million people without health insurance over the next decade, the first official independent analysis of the plan has found.

The health reforms, forced through the House earlier this month and exuberantly celebrated by Donald Trump and scores of Republicans in the White House rose garden, would reduce the federal budget deficit by $119bn over the same period, according to an estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday.

Read more: Republican healthcare plan will cost 23 million people their coverage, CBO says | US news |The Guardian

Insurance Industry: 3 Options for Rental Car Insurance in Europe

Renting a car for your vacation in Europe is just the first step in planning a road trip. Now you have to make some key decisions: whether to buy rental car insurance and, if so, whether to purchase a specialty policy or get insurance at the car rental counter.

If you are traveling to Europe and renting a car, you have three main insurance options for your trip.

1. Free coverage through your credit card

2. Stand-alone insurance policies

3. Buying at the rental car counter

Insure-Digest

Insurance Industry: Citi: Insurance disruption as companies could start tracking workers - by Bob Bryan

Imagine a world where a worker punches the clock and slips on a heart-rate monitor that's tracked by an insurance company.

The worker turns on a truck, which alerts the insurance company it's on, and drives to a warehouse, which alerts the insurance company that someone is there.

Every inch, every activity, monitored and measured by the insurance company.

According to analysts at Citi, this is the future of work, and, despite its Orwellian overtones, it's a good thing.
Todd Bault, James Naklicki, and Alex Gifford at Citi identified numerous trends that could disrupt the insurance industry as it's constructed, and one of the most interesting was their idea of "the Feed."

The Feed would be a real-time link that connects businesses, equipment, facilities, workers, and the insurance company, providing real-time updates on how risky a given situation is.

"But the potential here seems higher for commercial lines: with fewer or no privacy issues, and existing pervasive automation, it seems like a smaller step to embed IoT into industrial (manufacturing) and service (venues) processes, not to mention commercial auto activities like trucking and livery," said the analysts. "Employees in certain high hazard occupations could even be wired and monitored, though there could be resistance here."

By monitoring these operations in real time, the analysts think this could lead to a multistage revolution in the insurance industry.

Read more:Citi: Insurance disruption as companies could start tracking workers - Business Insider

Insurance Industry: How the Internet of Things is transforming the insurance industry - by John Greenough

The ability to bring internet connection to nearly every type of consumer device will have huge implications for the insurance industry over the next five years. Insurers looking to cut costs, improve business practices, and better assess clients' risk levels, will increasingly invest in the Internet of Things (IoT). 

Some auto and health insurers are already offering a new type of insurance — usage-based insurance (UBI) that uses IoT devices to track clients' activity and offer discounts or rewards for healthy and safe behavior. We expect 17 million people will have tried UBI auto insurance by the end of this year.

In a new report from BI Intelligence, we examine the impact of the IoT on the insurance industry. From free fitness trackers to track individuals' exercise habits to drones to assess damages in unsafe post-disaster conditions, we analyze current US insurance markets — including the auto, health, life, and property insurance markets — and look at ways insurers are integrating IoT devices.

Read more: How the Internet of Things is transforming the insurance industry - Business Insider

Insurance Industry: Ethics in the Insurance Industry rated poorly - by Marco Bendinelli

 Whether it is for legal, personal or humanitarian reasons, ethics can’t be ignored, and this is especially true for the insurance industry.

Unfortunately, the current system isn’t perfect, and newspapers are often rife with stories of people falling out with their providers for a range of issues. An annual ethics poll by Gallup, for instance, has always seen insurance companies fare poorly. In over 35 years, no more than 15 percent of the participants considered the insurance industry to have “high ethical standards.” Clearly, this is something that needs to change.

Much of the ethical issues in insurance are a case of utilitarianism and deontology. The former perspective focuses on the greater good or collective, while the latter believes in personal duties. Insurance businesses are arguably utilitarian, as they look at the larger picture.

An individual customer, on the other hand, is somewhat deontological; they consider their needs first and foremost, with no relevant interest outside their insurance policy. Many problems occur when insurance providers fail to understand these concerns, conducting practices that simply ignore personal objections.

Read more: Ethics in the Insurance Industry

Insurance Industry: Many Americans unclear whether domestic health insurance plan works outside the US

A surprising number of Americans are unclear whether their health insurance works outside the US, according to a new InsureMyTrip survey.

 Over twenty-five percent polled were not sure whether their domestic health insurance plan would cover any doctor or hospital visits while traveling outside the USA.

Thirty-nine percent said their domestic health insurance would provide coverage, while thirty-four percent believed their insurance plan would offer no coverage.

EU-Digest

The Netherlands - Insurance Industry:Merger VMDeerenberg and KOSTER Insurances b.v

VMDeerenberg in Bodegraven and KOSTER Insurance b.v. in Alphen a/d Rijn announced they have agreed to cooperate and merge their activities. As a result of this merger a large consulting company in the area of risk management, damage and revenue insurance, pensions and mortgages services, has been created right in the center of the Netherlands, known as the “Green Heart”. 

For Wim Koster, the CEO of Koster Insurances b.v. this merger is a logical move. After 30 years of service and having built a profitable, pro-active and solid corporation ogether with his spouse and business partner Jolanda of Mil, Wim says: "We have chosen for VMDeerenberg because we believe that through them we can provide continued good and reliable services and security for our clients and to our employees. VMDeerenberg seeks these same values, as we move along in the coming year, and continue our progress."

For Herman Broere, owner of VMDeerenberg, the merger with KOSTER Insurances b.v. is a welcome addition to his company: "Wim Koster, and Jolanda van Mil have built a large and reputable retirement advisory and insurance company, and besides having an excellent reputation, KOSTER insurances unique automated online support systems are able to address and communicate all administrative and retirement solutions electronically in 'real time' .This is very distinctive and unique in the market." 

To guarantee the transparency of this merger VMDeerenberg Holding B.V.'s name will be changed into VMD KOSTER Group B.V.  Consequently as a result of this merger VMD KOSTER Group B.V., including their sister companies employ 66 people. Premium income is EUR 50 million. The company presently has over 30,000 clients and services some 70,000 policies through VMDeerenberg or KOSTER in management.

Mortgage sales amount to more than EUR 47 million. Turnover from billings, subscriptions and fees are EUR 5.2 million. The locations of operation of VMD KOSTER Group B.V are in Alphen aan den Rijn and Bodegraven in the Netherlands

EU-Digest

Insurance Industry: Drug Giants Face $65 Billion in Lost Sales as Insurers Attack Patents - by Bruce Japse

By 2019, pharmaceutical companies face a major loss of $65 billion in sales due to patent expirations largely from brand name central nervous system drugs that are opening up to competition from cheaper generic copies.

A new report from London-based research and consulting firm GlobalData says a "patent cliff" will hit several drug companies including AstraZeneca andEli Lilly .Otsuka is poised to be the hardest hit, with its treatment for bipolar disorder and depression, Abilify, losing patent protection next year.

"Abilify's upcoming U.S. patent expiration in 2015 means the drug will lose a massive $6.2 billion by 2019 as the result of generic competition, making it the biggest victim of the pharmaceutical industry's current patent cliff," said Adam Dion, GlobalData's health care industry analyst in a statement accompanying the report.

The quick evaporation of sales, particularly in the U.S., comes as pharmacy benefit managers and insurance companies more quickly than ever shift the higher costs of brand names to consumers in the form of higher copayments so they will switch to cheaper alternatives.

The health benefit industry's clout was seen clearly when AstraZeneca's biopolar treatment, Seroquel, lost its patent protection and was clobbered by the introduction of generics. The company's central nervous system franchise "has been bleeding sales" ever since, as market share dropped to 3 percent of the market last year from 9 percent in 2010, according to GlobalData.

Read more: Drug Giants Face $65 Billion in Lost Sales as Insurers Attack Patents | Fox Business

Dutch Insurance Industry: Agis and Zilveren Kruis together under the name Zilveren Kruis

On January 1, 2015 Agis and Zilveren Kruis Healthcare insurance companies will merge under the name of Zilveren Kruis. This is subject to approval by the Dutch Central Bank.

The Dutch healthcare system is divided into three compartments:
› Long-term care for chronic conditions
› Basic and essential medical care, from GP visits to short-term hospital stays and specialist appointments or procedures
› Supplementary care (e.g. dental care, physiotherapy, cosmetic procedures)

Long-term care, including disability costs like wheelchairs, is covered by mandatory state insurance.

All regular (short-term) medical treatment is paid for by mandatory private health insurance. Supplementary care may be covered under health insurance, depending on the policy, or be paid for out of pocket.

The first step in healthcare in the Netherlands is to purchase Dutch health insurance.

It is mandatory for everyone to purchase at least a base level of insurance and you must do so within four months of arrival, even if you already have an existing policy that covers you in the Netherlands.

The first step in healthcare in the Netherlands is to purchase Dutch health insurance.
It is mandatory for everyone to purchase at least a base level of insurance and you must do so within four months of arrival, even if you already have an existing policy that covers you in the Netherlands.
- See more at: http://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-page/healthcare/dutch-healthcare-system-netherlands#sthash.0OZz28Oy.dpu

The Dutch healthcare system is divided into three compartments:
› Long-term care for chronic conditions
› Basic and essential medical care, from GP visits to short-term hospital stays and specialist appointments or procedures
› Supplementary care (e.g. dental care, physiotherapy, cosmetic procedures)
Long-term care, including disability costs like wheelchairs, is covered by mandatory state insurance.
All regular (short-term) medical treatment is paid for by mandatory private health insurance. Supplementary care may be covered under health insurance, depending on the policy, or be paid for out of pocket.
- See more at: http://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-page/healthcare/dutch-healthcare-system-netherlands#sthash.0OZz28Oy.dpuf

The Dutch healthcare system is divided into three compartments:
› Long-term care for chronic conditions
› Basic and essential medical care, from GP visits to short-term hospital stays and specialist appointments or procedures
› Supplementary care (e.g. dental care, physiotherapy, cosmetic procedures)
Long-term care, including disability costs like wheelchairs, is covered by mandatory state insurance.
All regular (short-term) medical treatment is paid for by mandatory private health insurance. Supplementary care may be covered under health insurance, depending on the policy, or be paid for out of pocket.
- See more at: http://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-page/healthcare/dutch-healthcare-system-netherlands#sthash.0OZz28Oy.dpuf

The Dutch healthcare system is divided into three compartments:
› Long-term care for chronic conditions
› Basic and essential medical care, from GP visits to short-term hospital stays and specialist appointments or procedures
› Supplementary care (e.g. dental care, physiotherapy, cosmetic procedures)
Long-term care, including disability costs like wheelchairs, is covered by mandatory state insurance.
All regular (short-term) medical treatment is paid for by mandatory private health insurance. Supplementary care may be covered under health insurance, depending on the policy, or be paid for out of pocket.
- See more at: http://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-page/healthcare/dutch-healthcare-system-netherlands#sthash.0OZz28Oy.dpu

EU-Digest 

The Netherlands: Client Friendly, Tech Savy - Koster Insurances Part of New Breed in Digitized Insurance Industry

Check out the free Summer edition of SURE! an electronic publication of Koster Insurances BV,

SURE provides not only an in-depth look at a variety of issues of importance related to the global insurance industry, and the economic, social and political environment, but it also focuses on trends related to the ever increasing importance of digitized technology.

In this edition of SURE you will get further insights  into:

• Why progressive insurers and insurance advisers like KOSTER have adapted their operations and management to the new digitized world in order to guarantee their future success.
• How insurance companies, in order to succeed, will have to move away from old-fashioned conservative programs to more dynamic client-friendly service oriented programs.
• Updated Information related to the Solvency II consultations and draft guidelines. 
• The increased credit risk problems in Eastern Europe. 
• Now that the European parliamentary elections are behind us – what is next?
• And of course, a variety of news items related to other developments around the world, including; Britain, Germany, Malta, Qatar, Thailand, Turkey and the USA.

EU-Digest

Insurance Industry: Hot Topics Making News

The Spring issue of SURE!,  a free electronic publication by the Dutch KOSTER Insurance company takes a look at a variety of issues which got the attention in Europe during the past months, Some of the issues covered by SURE! include:

• The European Parliamentary Elections, to be held in all member states of the European Union on May 22-25 this year.
• The ongoing EU-US Trade Negotiations which is keeping both the EU and the USA on their toes and already has run into several roadblocks.
• The Solvency II EU Internal Insurance Guidelines that has the European Insurance industry and some EU member states up in arms.
• The dangerous sovereign exposure by the European Banking Industry which could have a long term negative effect on the economy of the Eurozone.
• And of course, a variety of news items related to the Insurance Industry around the world, including Brazil, Britain, Germany, Iran, Sweden, the Netherlands, Ukraine and the USA.

Click here for more from SURE !

USA: Insurance Industry Making Out Like Bandits On Obamacare-Premiums Worth More Than $90 Billion - by Value Penguin

The Affordable Care Act will push the over 45 million uninsured in the United States to find health care coverage. The largest portion of this group will find coverage through the health insurance marketplaces set up by the state and federal exchanges. Consumers purchasing through the exchanges will receive coverage through private insurance companies, with many receiving federal tax credits to help pay for policies. While the consumer may not be paying the full price of the policy, the insurance companies will still receive the full premium. 

Based on our estimates the uninsured are worth a potential $92+ billion in annual premiums to the insurance companies. The Affordable Care Act requires that 80% of the value of the premiums be used to service health care costs, leaving a little over $18.4 billion to be spread across employees, marketing, overhead and profits. Insurance companies we've looked at could expect anywhere from 2-4% of all premiums to come in the form of profits. This would amount to $1.8-$3.6 billion dollars annually.

Read more Obamacare Could Be Worth More Than $90 Billion to the Insurance Industry - DailyFinance

Insurance Industry: Natural disasters killed 20,000 people in 2013

Natural disasters killed about twice as many people in 2013 as in the previous year, but last year's figure is still well below the average seen for the past decade, a global insurance company said Tuesday.

In a report Tuesday, German insurance company Munich Re said that there were about 880 major natural disasters across the world in 2013, which cost about $125 billion and ended the lives of some 20,000 people. The insured cost was smaller, at $31 billion.

The human toll was more than double the 2012 figure, but both are well below the average seen for the past decade, which has seen 106,000 people per year, on average, lose their lives to natural disasters such as hurricanes, typhoons and earthquakes.

Although the death toll rose, the economic toll shrank from $173 billion and insured losses of $65 billion in 2012.

The costliest natural disasters were summer hailstorms in Germany, floods in Central Europe, and storms and tornadoes in the United States.

Typhoon Haiyan, which slammed into the Phillipines late in the year was "probably the strongest tropical storm ever to make landfall," the report said. More than 6,000 people were killed in the storm, and millions were left homeless.

Overall, the financial toll of Haiyan is believed to be around $10 billion, about five per cent of the country's GDP. But insured losses from the storm will end up being far smaller, probably in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Munich Re said.

The second largest single event was mudslides in India in June, which killed 5,500 people.

The Atlantic storm season typically results in the insurance industry's biggest losses for the year, but last year's hurricane season was one of the quietest in the last 20 years with the fewest hurricanes since 1982.

Read more: Natural disasters killed 20,000 people in 2013 - Business - CBC News

ING Groep Selling Majority of Korean Life Insurance Unit for 24 Billion

In an effort to continue an exit from its Asian insurance businesses, Netherlands-based ING Groep (NYSE: ING  ) has reached an agreement to sell ING Life Korea to MBK Partners for $1.66 billion, ING announced recently.

In a statement, Jan Hommen, CEO of ING, called the deal "a major step in the divestment of our Asian insurance and investment management activities." Hommen added that "together with the scheduled payment of the next tranche of the core Tier 1 securities to the Dutch State in November 2013, this will bring us further into the end phase of the restructuring of our company."

ING will pay approximately $107 million to retain an indirect stake of 10% in ING Life Korea. ING Life Korea currently serves approximately 1.3 million customers, and has an estimated 6,800 "tied agents" along with 1,000 employees.

ING said it expects to realize an after-tax loss from the sale of an estimated $1.27 billion, which it will book in Q3 of this year. Proceeds from the transaction will be used to pay down debt, according to ING.

The deal is expected to close in Q4 of 2013, and is subject to regulatory and closing conditions.
ING Groep is still struggling to pay back bailout money it received from the Dutch state in 2008. Under direction of the European Union's competition authority, ING must separate its insurance and banking activities. After listing its U.S. insurance arm this year, it plans to spin off its European insurance arm in 2014.


Read more: ING Groep Selling Majority of Korean Life Insurance Unit for 1.24 Billion (ING)

European Insurance In The World

Swiss Re, Sigma No.3/2013: “World insurance in 2012” reports that with a 33% share of the global market, the European insurance industry is the largest in the world, followed by North America (30%) and Asia (29%).

Distribution of insurance premiums in 2012: Europe 33%*, USA 30%, Asia 29%, South America and Caribbean 4%, Africa 4%

*“Europe” covers western, central and eastern Europe and therefore includes Russia and Ukraine

(which together account for 1% of global premiums)”

EU-Digest