Life Insurance Growth Set To Slow Down
The future of the UK’s life insurance market is looking like a slow one according to reports that have recently been released. Life insurance had a small recovery in 2012, regaining a little momentum. However, its growth is likely to be thwarted by lingering issues within the economy, especially over the next 5 years. Timetric, a data provider, released a report titled ‘Life Insurance in the UK – Key trends and opportunities to 2017’ warned that the continued economic uncertainty is likely to affect the growth of the life insurance sector in the long term.
The report states that ‘it is likely to constrain growth’. This is because the banking and wealth management sectors are offering life insurance savings. The rival sectors are also offering investment opportunities that compare with those of the life insurance companies. This competition will affect the sector, but it’s not all negative. It’s a fact that competition between companies and sectors breeds innovation and the constant need to progress and match/overtake your opponents, as opposed to one entity dominating the market and offering the consumer a sub-par experience.
Timetric’s report also mentioned that the value of gross written premiums had fallen from £56.5 billion in 2007 to £24.4 billion in 2012, a drop of £32.1 billion in just 5 years. The gross written premiums in the UK life insurance category fell by 57% between 2007 and 2012. According to the research, the UK’s life insurance sector is only set to grow by an average of 3.5% over the course of the next 5 years – quite a measly increase!
James Savery, 20 August 2013