The 11th International Insurance Conference, organized by Insurance Europe, took place on 23 May, in Bucharest, gathering re/insurance professionals from all over the world.The event was officially opened by Adrian MARIN, President of UNSAR and CEO GENERALI Romania who declared:
"We are happy to be your hosts today, Romania being the first country from the Central and Eastern European region which is hosting Insurance Europe's annual International Conference. It is truly an honor to have all of you with us today, discussing the best solutions for the future of the insurance industry."
"Romania has an insurance industry totaling over EUR 2 million, reporting an increase of 4.5% in 2018 compared with 2017, which signals a great potential which can be valorized by showing a special care for consumers, by investing in their financial education, but also by developing strong partnerships between all stakeholders", Adrian MARIN added.
To allow European insurers to maximize their contribution towards a sustainable Europe, policymakers must: take action to ensure prudential capital requirements reflect the real risks insurers face; provide a clear taxonomy that avoids greenwashing; and ensure conduct rules give consumers real choice over environmental, social and governance (ESG) and non-ESG investment products, Andreas BRANDSTETTER, President of Insurance Europe CEO & Chairman, UNIQA Insurance Group declared.
He added that, beyond regulation, demand for sustainable and long-term investment is significantly higher than the supply of appropriate assets, as shown by recent green energy/infrastructure projects that were oversubscribed. Action is also therefore needed to achieve the creation of suitable, sustainable investment opportunities.
"There are three big challenges that society is facing today: natural catastrophes, cyber-attacks, as well as people's lack of retirement savings. Helping society to overcome these challenges represents a real opportunity for our industry", Andreas BRANDSTETTER pointed out.
The 11th International Insurance Conference was organized by Insurance Europe and co-hosted by UNSAR - The National Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies in Romania and it also marked the 25th anniversary of UNSAR.
XPRIMM Publications supported the event as Media Partner.
MAIN STATEMENTS
Oliver BAETE,
Chairman, ALLIANZ SE
- When it comes to cyber risks, there is a difference between protecting consumers & businesses; we can't price the risk for large corporations
- Accounting rules are driving things to be more and more short-term
- People need good advice about insurance products now, more than ever
- Everything will change for the insurance industry due to increased customer expectations: "It will be about who gives the most value to consumers"
- Insurance products must become more simple
Adam PAWLOFF,
Greenpeace
- The climate crisis is the biggest challenge to humanity ever.
- We are creating a world that will no longer be insurable, due to climate change.
- Less than half of the losses insured: usd 135 bn in 2017, 41% of the total losses from natural catastrophes - USD 330 bn.
- We need to phase out coal in European and other OECD countries by 2030.
- It is a matter of political and industrial will to act proactively; therefore we are making an appeal to insurers to stop insuring and investing in coal industry by 2030
Elisabeth STADLER,
CEO, VIG - VIENNA Insurance Group
- Insurance is a matter of trust and trust is a very human element. Therefore we can use technological assistance, but we still need humans
- Insurance is more of a push, rather than a pull product. No one wakes up crying out to buy insurance
Victoria SAPORTA,
Executive Director of Prudential Policy Directorate, Bank of England
- Everybody needs simple and understandable product - not only people but also our governments.
- Half of the NatCat risks remain uninsured at the moment
- Both consumers and governments need simplicity in order to tackle the protection gap
Lori BAILEY,
Global Head of Cyber Risk, ZURICH Insurance
- We need to strengthen public - private partnerships to better understand attribution of cyber incidents
- It has become increasingly important to have better access to data and to be able to share data in order to develop better cyber risk cover
- It is has become significantly important to increase the cyber risk awareness of SMEs
- We do not need standardized cyber risk products but a common language, for example a common taxonomy to develop the market
Francisco Carrasco BAHAMONDE,
Director, Consorcio de Compensacion de Seguros - CCS
- Regulators have a key role in demonstrating the usefulness of financial education and also in ensuring that disclosures by insurers are effective
Nilay Ozden,
Managing Director, FINPRO Practice Leader, Marsh, Continental Europe
- The cyber insurance market continues to grow and innovate to meet buyers' evolving needs. First-party risk, particularly business disruption, has become an important cyber consideration, and the cyber insurance market is responding with affirmative coverage for both direct and contingent business interruption losses arising out of cyber events. The market, which has notional capacity approaching 2 billion USD and the demonstrated ability to evolve coverage in alignment with changing technology risks, is well positioned to meet coverage needs of companies across a full spectrum of industries. In addition, the cyber incident data gap is closing steadily, helping drive improved underwriting and pricing. We stand ready to work with industry, policy makers and our clients to unleash the full potential of this market.
- Cyber insurance is part of the toolkit to bolster resilience.
- First and foremost, cyber insurance can mitigate the financial impact of cyber-attacks; it can help companies and society return to economic or financial normalcy as quickly as possible after an attack. The efficacy of cyber insurance in protecting the firm from catastrophic events is unarguable - there is no competing set of cybersecurity investments that remove so much financial risk from the firm so efficiently.
- The simple act of applying for cyber insurance also incentivizes institutions to assess the strength of their cyber defenses. It encourages them to conduct gap analyses against industry benchmarks and to quantify the risk financially - we can only manage what we measure. This process, in and of itself, is an important risk mitigation tool. Increasingly, cyber risk brokers and underwriters are bolstering that assessment process through feedback and benchmarking that derives from the tens of thousands of cyber insurance policies being placed.
- Once a cyber policy is purchased, further incentives are created because insurers are then motivated to help policyholders strengthen their cyber defense.
- Many insurers offer monitoring and rapid response services to policyholders, including expert legal advice and forensic services to determine what happened and whether the cyber-attack should be reported to authorities. As such, cyber insurance may also help companies comply with reporting a cyber-attack or data loss as mandated by the GDPR and the NIS Directive.
- Insurers develop prevention services to help policyholders to be better prepared to face cyber-attacks.
- Clients still need to be educated about the added value of cyber insurance and we support initiatives, including from regulators and supervisors, to raise awareness.
- The many benefits of cyber insurance are apparent to the private sector and they are buying the product, which is ready now and works well.
- In the US, close to 40% of our clients have cyber insurance now, with an annual growth rate last year of 12%.
- The number of Marsh EU-based clients purchasing standalone cyber insurance is over 700, with a growth rate of no less than 50% last year.
- in Continental Europe, 93% of respondents to our recent cyber security survey (with Microsoft) are confident that the coverages within their organization's insurance will respond to costs incurred in the event of a cyber even.
- In Europe, we placed more than 1,000 stand alone cyber policies which has been growing at a rate of more than 50% year on year.
- In Europe there are more than 35 carriers from around the world that potentially can provide more than 750 million EUR in capacity to cover cyber risks
Eugene GURENKO,
Lead Insurance Specialist, World Bank
- Without a change in government policy - ie, intervention when a disaster occurs - we are unlikely to see an increase in insurance penetration (against NatCat risks) any time soon
Pawel SUROWKA,
CEO, PZU
- Extending life expectancy goes with the life quality. This is where health care comes in
- We need to increase consumers' trust in the fact that insurers will not use their data against them
Gabriel BERNARDINO,
Chairman of EIOPA - European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority
- We need to identify the boundaries regarding the use of Big Data in insurance and to develop ethical guidelines concerning this aspect
- ESG risks must be considered both on investments and on the underwriting side
- PEPP KID needs to be digital
- Long-term and infrastructure investments need a different regulatory treatment under Solvency II to better reflect the low-risk nature of the business
- Active engagement on environmental issues with the companies we are invested in should be a duty of all asset managers. And we all need to be ecologists
Lard FRIESE,
CEO, NN Group
- Pension plan scheme needs three things: 1) continuity, 2) incentives for long-term savings, and 3) regulation for trust
Frederic de COURTOIS, General Manager, GENERALI Group
- The insurance industry is taking a gradual approach towards climate risk. I am not sure if it is moving fast enough
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