Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a restful and celebratory holiday break over the past two weeks. We resume our weekly analysis of industry news with a piece on ecosystems, state of the industry news and Here are the three things we learned this week:
- This year will be as much about moving forward into the digital age as those in the past though with more emphasis for insurance to transform in the low touch post-COVID world. This editor believes that ecosystems will be a key theme this year and we certainly agree. We are working with clients on this very paradigm as they look at how to distribute insurance products in non-traditional channels and embed into other experiences.
- The hardening market trend that began last year will continue though there are results that point to a cooling. Meanwhile, in the first week of the year we hear that reinsurance rates increased based on 1/1 renewals and commercial rates are rising. The economy is still looking to gain it’s growth footing and while yields have risen we still have a long way to go in the near 0% interest environment. We see headwinds that will fuel pent up demand for transformation efforts, insurtech funding and valuation growth for newly public entities who can ride the momentum of the market even if some disagree with how they are executing.
- A new year brings new deals and there were a few notables this week, Genworth is exploring an IPO to raise capital after their long anticipated acquisition by China’s Oceanwide fell through, Majesco is using their war chest of capital to enhance group & voluntary benefits solution offering and Hudson is acquiring a book of business and UW team that will increase presence in financial lines.
2021 is certainly a year of promise and recovery, we will continue scanning the industry for trends and analysis and serving up these tidbits. Wikifri remains committed to being a resource to the insurance industry. we hope you continue to follow and give us feedback as to what we can do better with these updates. Hope everyone stays safe and has a successful start to the year!