Asia-Pacific set to dominate global insurance premiums

The report noted that China and Asia-Pacific will continue to dominate in terms of global economic growth, while the US and Canada, as well as other well-developed economies in the Asia-Pacific region, will dominate in terms of non-life premium growth.

“It’s two fundamental forces [driving this], and one is the growth of the economies in Asia, centring around the two big economies in China and India, which will continue to grow at a faster pace than Europe, the US, or Japan and Australia,” explained Thomas Holzheu, Chief Economist for the Americas at Swiss Re.

Holzheu added that these emerging economies are seeing a strong increase in demand for insurance as large portions of the population shift into the middle class.

That being said, the US-China trade war is a factor that may offset this increase in insurance demand, especially as its impact extends into other countries. “That would massively affect the appetite for US insurers, but would also reduce demand for insurance, particularly on the commercial side, and cause great risks, which are relevant for the balance sheet of insurance companies, as they are strongly invested in credit and in fixed income,” Holzheu said.