Of Special Interest
- "It's All About the Customer" the theme for the latest IBM/Shillito white paper
- Survey indicates state of ERM development amongst insurers globally
- Capgemini World Insurance Report focuses on the customer experience and emerging distribution channels
- EIOPA launches technical assessment of Solvency II long-term guarantee package
- EIU/BNY Mellon report highlights global issues for insurers
- Report looks at two issues facing insurer CEOs globally
- EIOPA publishes Opinion on Solvency II interim measures
- The Global Insurance Week
- Report reviews priorities for US p&c insurers in 2013
- EIOPA publishes latest financial stability report
- Swiss Re study reviews global market prospects for 2013
- EIOPA exploring possibility of interim stage for Solvency II
- Research indicates rising cost of regulatory cost for UK general insurers
- Accenture global survey indicates insurance equity analysts' expectations and issues
- KPMG suggests a way forward for Solvency II
- Survey indicates insurer progress on Solvency II
- FSA publishes Journey to the FCA paper
- Global Federation of Insurance Associations formed
- EIOPA pushes Barnier on Solvency II timetable clarification
- OFT refers UK motor insurance market for review by Competition Commission
- Solvency II delay now seems inevitable
- Prudential survey indicates changing UK customer choice of advice approach
- Keeping up with regulatory change in UK financial services an increasing overhead
- Men prefer telematics more than women says survey
- HSBC - Gulliver's position untenable?
- Libor, the BBA and Thomson Reuters
- IAIS releases paper on Reinsurance and Financial Stability
- Upcoming financial regulatory structure in UK gets cool reception
- ACORD sponsored survey looks at the growing importance of analytics
- Monitise completes on Clairmail acquisition
- Leading insurer ceos give views on market challenges
- EIOPA publishes final draft guidelines for ORSA
- Bank of China chairman speaks on international expansion
- EIOPA publishes final report on Solvency II reporting but....
- US insurer priorities reviewed in survey
- IAIS releases latest draft for supervision of international insurers
- Crédit Agricole uses ACI for payments system overhaul
- Wake up call for UK commercial insurance sector?
- IBM, Analytics, social media and financial services
- 51% of insurers changing measurement of capital adequacy under Solvency II says survey
- 80% Of Goldman growth will arise from BRIC nations
- EIOPA says majority of European insurers well capitalised but...
- BlackRock forecasts Greek loan writeoff at €30bn
- New UK regulator suggests ending 'free' banking
- Société Générale Bank & Trust live with FRSGlobal
- New UK business finance website
- Europe to lead on telematics says report
- Spanish bank plan
- Significance of the JPM trading losses
- Geneva Association reports on global ageing issues and the role of insurance
- Report highlights action being taken by UK insurers in readiness for Solvency II
- UK personal lines insurers provide poor online user experience says survey
- OCBC ranked strongest bank in world - again
- European insurers must move from risk measurement to real risk management to achieve a return on Solvency II investment says report
- Solvency II survey indicates UK insurers have still much to do-majority say start date will be delayed
- WiproTechnologies-on the global insurance stage
- JPM prepaid card bank account a trend-setter
- Estimate of additional Spanish bank capital needed
- First US approval for Chinese bank purchase
- Accenture and Duck Creek solutions together add value
- UBS clients use iPad to design trading algorithms
- Engagement Banking
- US ExPats giving up nationality to save tax
- PayTag turns any mobile into contactless pay device
- CHARGE Anywhere NFC card acceptance via BlackBerry
- SAS-helping insurers to understand their business
- SWIFT launches Sanctions Screening
- Study predicts telematics take off in UK
- SWIFT guide on moving to Sepa
- Monitise buys Clairmail
- QlikTech-placing agile analytics in the hands of the business user
- BRIC countries boost bank business lending - G8 lowers it
- The Met Office says Atlantic hurricane fluctuations connected to industrial air pollution
- PayPal phone to card acceptance device converter
- Pingit P2P now open to customers of all UK banks
- Telematics statistics indicate further good news
- SAS launches Visual Analytics
- IBM / Citigroup deal to use IBM Watson
- Telematics growing in interest in UK amongst consumers says survey
- BTG Pactual listing will be one of largest
- Most of UK life insurers sheltered from eurozone sovereign debt crisis says Fitch
- Global insurer IT spend to increase after decline says report
- Geneva Association reviews catastrophic year and looks forward
- Solvency II goes too far says survey
- Predictive analytics at heart of SAS updated AML tool
- Policy administration modernisation is next priority says survey
- HDFC mobile banking with Monitise and Visa
- Insurers falling behind other sectors in customer service says survey
- Western Union payment deals with 26 mobile wallet providers
- Global ceo survey indicates key reasons for growth being held back
- HSBC to exit Japan retail
- Vodafone - Visa announce global mobile wallet
- More on Telefónica and MasterCard LatAm JV
- BBVA-Google first combined forecasts
- SEPA payments date set as 1st February 2014
- Gibraltar plan to attract more funds
- EIOPA issues 2012 Action Plan for Colleges of Supervisors
- Glory ATM manufacturer buys Talaris
- Insurers could look towards alternative asset classes because of Solvency II says survey
- European regulator warns politicians on Solvency II potential delay
- UK insurers need to place more emphasis on product features says report
- US Bank bail out in disguise?
- US issues millionth EMV Visa card
- Citigroup to end mortgage brokerage intros
- US Bancorp $440m renewable investment
- Difficult decisions ahead for European insurers says Ernst & Young report
- The MGAA-providing timely support for UK underwriting agencies
- 2012 US Auto Claims Satisfaction study published
- Local support for Thailand Catastrophe Fund plan
- US Prosecutors charge Wegelin with assisting tax evasion
- Digital cash for the digital wallet
- Eric Daniels to join StormHarbour
- SunTrust acquires FirstAgain for loan platform
- S&P maintains stable outlook on reinsurance market
- FIS announces POS mobile wallet
- Credit Agricole opens app store
- Half of Visa Europe transactions on mobile by 2020
- BBVA and Google try to improve forecasting for clients
- Deloitte publishes 2012 Global Insurance Outlook report
- BBVA goes to the Google Cloud
- Geneva Association reviews three key issues for the global insurance industry
- Treasury Committee motor insurance report creates comment
- World Economic Forum Global Risks 2012 report published
- IBM Joins Bank Information Architecture Network
- No delay on Basel III liquidity - peer review introduced
- Further delay over Solvency II
- Itaú Unibanco Latin America expansion
- Reawakening ATM standard cassette initiative
- EIOPA issues financial stability report
- Ernst & Young outlines five success strategies for US p&c insurers
- IBM 10 year infrastructure deal with La Caixa
- Only 20% of actuaries and insurance finance managers completely confident in data control processes and spreadsheets says research
- Fitch predicts future trend for US broker market
- Swiss Re reviews emerging markets
- SocGen CIB exec team changes
- RBS investment banking downsizing
- Nigeria limits cash usage to boost Mpayments
- eBay acquires German BillSAFE
- Nigerian mobile money licences
- IBM help for Kenyan banking
- BNP Paribas and IBM extend infrastructure JV
- Monitise and FIS strategic partnership
- PayPal Swedish contactless POS trial
- PayPal to join discount coupon bandwagon
- Morgan Stanley $1.8bn writedown
- State Street exits UK & German bonds
- Swiss Re sigma study reviews catastrophe costs
- Aon Benfield publishes report on China p&c and reinsurance market
- US life industry faces challenges says report
- NBNK may bid for Yorkshire & Clydesdale
- Swiss Re predicts bluer skies from 2013
- Long term investment move away from Equities
- MoneyGram / ICBC remittance deal
- Algorithmics reporting for wealth management
- Western Union starts UK prepaid services
- Launch of Western Union Small Business Payments
- LIMRA reviews US consumer life insurance buying trends
- A.M.Best stress tests insurers exposure to eurozone debt
- 4 bids possible for RBS Aviation
- Takefuji restructure plan in doubt
- Raiffeisen told to consider dual-listing
- Hedge fund chief backs Financial Transaction Tax
- PayPal 6 fold increase in mobile payments over Thanksgiving
- Women are greater online fraud risk claim
- Sovereign bonds revised capital risk charges unlikely to be incorporated in Solvency II in near term says Fitch
- Survey indicates major issues for London Market players
- Deutsche Bank Asset Management part sale?
- Social media central to SunGards mobile platform
- Google Wallet boost from Checkout
- Defaqto survey indicates vital role of financial advisers
- Global survey reveals insurers could improve services to customers
- S & P highlights regulatory change for UK life insurers presents challenges but there are long term opportunities
- Deutsche Borse / NYSE derivatives proposal
- Swiss / US comprehensive tax treaty
- Buffet sees value in financial services stock prices
- New UBS CEO halves investment banking - sets financial targets
- Visa Digital wallet branded V.Me
- Social Media to inpact insurance market says report
- Credit Agricole / Visa microSD NFC contactless payment
- IBM offers mobile device security
- MasterCard and Intel online & NFC security alliance
- Barclays insurance deals with Aviva and Legal & General
- PayPal Android App includes NFC P2P
- Volcker rule too complicated
- Only 48% of UK and US consumers trust their insurance provider says survey
- Guy Carpenter reviews Asia Pacific catastrophe scenario
- Dodd Frank cheat sheet
- simplytap - mobile purchase by entering just 2 codes
- BoA to sell more of China Construction stake?
- Lloyds Banking appoints acting CEO serving notice period
- SocGen creating UK online bank using Selftrade
- Total loss customer satisfaction lower says US auto insurance study
- FIS to process Discover network cards
- Barclays profits YTD UP on corporate and DVA
- Visa Europe and FIS take stake in Monitise
- Alfa Bank offers first contactless payments in Russia
- Banks and the Euro crisis deal
- IBM Security division formed
- CommBank Kaching multi-payment mobile app
- Norton Rose reviews financial institutions globally
- Fiserv unified wealth platform available
- British Arab Commercial deploys IBM risk analytics
- US Card issuers pile back into sub-prime
- CEA opposes US bills relating to taxing of foreign insurers
- RDT spreads its wings
- Google wallet open for all banks
- Equifax to Offer First Data Confidence Score Solution
- Misys launches market Risk Solution
- JPMorgan Q3 profit down a little
- TSYS renews outsourcing deal with Capital One
- Fitch reviews UK life sector
- Mobile banking software ranked
- UK websites compared for speed and how it affects purchase
- More Brits use online banking than use Facebook or Tweet
- Tesco confirm core banking system problems
- SMFG unit moves systems development to Ireland
- Global IPO value down 46% on year ago
- SMBC tender for Promise
- The mobile wallet reaches Papua New Guinea
- NBNK only bidder to meet deadline for Lloyds branches
- Fiserv launches bank risk analysis tool
- Fusion-io speeds up Deutsche credit risk calculation
- European epayment rules anti-competitive investigation
- Capital One social gaming spend
- MUFG electronic management of syndicated Loans
- Google Wallet live in US
- Laying down the rules for Volcker
- UBS rogue trading - story so far
- John Mack retires at year end from Morgan Stanley
- Mobile payments may exceed 15bn in 2013
- Future of UK retail banking final report
- Monitise virtual card anti-fraud offering
- Egypts first major M&A deal since revolution
- BoA in syndicate to fund solar power for military dwellings
- Bank of America executive changes
- NBNK confirms talks - shares suspended
- Insurers to spend more on IT says research
- NBNK to buy Lloyds branches, Clydesdale & Yorkshire banks?
- LSE to buy LCH.Clearnet?
- SunGard completes on FINACE
- BNY Mellon replaces CEO
- RBS strategic relationship with Monitise
- IBM to Acquire Algorithmics
- IBM 10 banking deals within CEE region
- Dexia may struggle without state aid
- ICBC profits continue to rise
- CFS negligible profit UK Co-op bank loss
- Monitise granted Nigerian Mobile Payment licence
- Accenture buys US Mortgage processor
- Banks must work harder to attract 'Facebook Generation'
- Banks borrowed $1.2tr of secret US federal funds
- HSBC T&B bidding for parts of WestLB
- Rethinking of US infrastructure bank
- India Post-bank soon?
- RBS bigger loss - underlying progress
- Swiss / German withholding tax - template for future?
- NCR Bill Pay Kiosks
- Visa to chip its cards in the US
- Useful stats on the UK smartphone market
- Elavon to accept China Unionpay cards
- IBM & Security First in Cloud Security venture
- HSBC - expense cuts not straight to the bottom line
- Moody's AAA for Footballer Ronaldo as collateral
- Hugh Osmond is 3rd bidder for Lloyds branches
- Berchtold & Meister to head Credit Suisse Private Banking
- TStone & Flowers joint bid for Woori?
- UK banks retail market share
- New CEOs and Chairman at Deutsche Bank
- Rothschild investing Chinese funds in other countries
- VITAband wristband - the future of contactless payment?
- Citi gains as loan losses fall
- The lesson from the European stress test.
- Citi may keep store card unit
- JPMorgan profits boosted loan loss reductions and Investment banking
- Friday night is European stress test result night
- Banking Industry Architecture Network grows
- Business & law enforcement form new anti-Cybercrime org.
- PayPal buys Zong
- IBM to provide Garanti Bankasi with new servers
- Deutsche Borse invests in FX technology derivatives co
- New IBM white paper on client centricity and reducing risk
- Stay Agile and Stand Out in Changing Insurance Markets
- UK Airlines surcharge for debit card banned - overall ban may follow
- Fed generous to card issuers on Durbin cap
- HSBC cost cutting promises underwhelming
- Major systems issues reported at ANZ
- The Global Week
- Oracle BI for iPad and iPhone
- IBM on systemic risk
- Google, Citi, MasterCard, First Data mobile wallet
- HSBC Q1 pre-tax down 14.1%
- US tornadoes could cost insurers up to $5bn
- HSBC should sell US retail business & Ping An stake
- UK banks agree to settle PPI claims
- PPI charge creates Lloyds Banking pre-tax £3.5bn LOSS
- Beyond Compliance: Differentiating through Solvency II technology investments
- European banks said to have 1.3tr Euro of non-core assets
- UK consultation on the covered bond market
- UK Banking reform report significant
- Towers Watson reports on Solvency II survey across insurers operating in UK
- Horta-Osorio determined to conclude Lloyds branches sale this year
7th November 2012
Accenture global survey indicates insurance equity analysts' expectations and issues
Insurance equity analysts expect higher profitability, despite difficult market conditions, from the best-performing insurers and will reward those that expand into emerging markets, according to findings of a global survey by Accenture.
Commissioned by Accenture and conducted by Institutional Investor Market Research Group, the survey queried 68 leading insurance equity analysts in 16 countries and covered a diverse range of topics, including profit and growth strategies in the context of major industry challenges.
The survey reveals that the equity analysts expect the insurers they recommend with “Buy” ratings to deliver an average pre-tax return on equity (RoE) of 14.9% in 2012, compared to 13.7% in 2011. Profitability expectations will continue to rise, with half of the overall respondents expecting higher pre-tax RoE in the next three years from insurers with “Buy” ratings.
“Given that the average pre-tax RoE was 11.8% in 2011 for the 20 largest global insurers, the expectations set by the equity analysts for 2012 are quite challenging,” said John Del Santo, global managing director of Accenture's Insurance practice. “The overall industry is affected by the difficult economic conditions and ever-more stringent regulatory environment, while property and casualty insurers have to struggle with higher volatility of catastrophe claims and life insurers with low interest rates and weak demand. Insurers will have to convince the analyst community that they have the right strategy to navigate these challenges while raising the bar for revenue growth and profitability, if they want to earn superior ratings.”
Expansion into emerging markets is considered by analysts as important or critical to earn superior ratings:
All P&C insurance analysts said merger and acquisition (M&A) initiatives by North American, European and Japanese insurers into Brazil, Russia, India, China, Mexico or South Korea are an important or critical driver of superior ratings over the next three years.
A majority (88%) of life insurance analysts said organic growth in these emerging markets is important or critical to earn superior ratings in the next three years.
“While emerging markets may be crucial to the future performance of global groups, they are no panacea,” said Thomas Meyer, managing director of Accenture's Insurance practice for Europe, Africa and Latin America. “Many countries are resisting the efforts of global carriers to enter their markets and compete against local firms. Also, the lack of homogeneity of emerging markets, where the cultural differences are more significant than in Europe, makes it difficult for insurers to achieve economies of scale across borders. Thus, a global operating model which allows the insurer to capitalize on its proven assets, processes and capabilities, while adapting to local needs, is essential to expanding into such markets profitably.”
Analysts rank “pricing strategy” and “quality of service” as the industry’s top value drivers over the next three years, named by 95% and 94% of the respondents, respectively, ahead of “data analysis capabilities” (86%).
The survey also reveals that underwriting risk management is perceived as the most critical technology investment to improve business performance, mentioned by two-thirds (67%) of the analysts surveyed.
“To act decisively in a transforming marketplace and achieve organic growth, rich data, advanced analytics and predictive modelling are invaluable,” said Meyer. “These capabilities help insurers understand and segment their markets, and also continually refine their business and operating models to ensure these are ideally suited to provide each market segment with the right products, at the right price and through the right distribution channels.”
“In addition, given that the essence of the insurance business is to deal with risks–risks against which they cover their policyholders or risks they are taking by making financial investments–profitable growth can’t be achieved without highly efficient risk management capabilities. By aligning risk management with their overall business strategy, and integrating it with their key business processes, insurers can enhance operational performance, reduce costs and deliver distinctively superior customer service by ensuring fair treatment of policyholders.”
Environmental issues, such as the increasing volatility of natural catastrophes, are the most widely cited industry challenge for P&C insurers (58%), while new regulations and reforms, such as the Solvency II directive and the Dodd–Frank reform, were perceived as the number-one threat for life insurers (83%). The uncertainty of financial investment returns was the number-two challenge for the overall industry, cited by more than half (55%) of P&C analysts and almost two-thirds (65%) of life insurance analysts.
Analysts in Asia Pacific are the most bullish regarding growth: they expect the insurers they recommend with “Buy” ratings to show an average growth rate of 11% this year, while their colleagues in Europe and North America expect 6.7% and 6.1% respectively.
European analysts are the most demanding in terms of profitability: they expect the insurers they recommend with “Buy” ratings to show an average pre-tax RoE of 16.4% this year, while their counterparts in North America and Asia Pacific expect 12.1% and 13.8% respectively.
North American analysts favour organic growth in mature markets (mentioned by 92% of North American analysts), ahead of M&A in emerging markets (78%), while European analysts favour organic growth in both emerging markets (81% of European analysts) and mature markets (59%).
Analysts believe investment volatility (71%) and new regulations and reform (52%) are the biggest threats to North American carriers. For European companies, regulations come first (61%) and investment volatility second (57%). In Asia Pacific, regulations are by far analysts’ greatest concern: they score 92%, compared to 67% for slow growth in core markets and 50% for investment volatility.
Methodology:
Accenture commissioned a quantitative survey of 68 “sell-side” insurance equity analysts around the world, including 38 P&C analysts, 25 life analysts, and five general insurance analysts. The telephone survey was designed by Accenture, with contributions from Institutional Investor Market Research Group and several insurance equity analysts, and was conducted by Institutional Investor Market Research Group from March through April 2012. Respondents included 15 analysts in the US; 13 in the UK; eight in Canada; seven in Japan; three each in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Hong-Kong and South Korea; two in Norway; and one each in Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Brazil and South Africa.