2017 Insurance Banana Skins Report

The 2017 Insurance Banana Skins report reached its tenth edition providing a detailed picture of the concerns that the insurance industry faces about new trends in its own business.

The report was conducted by the Center for the Study of Financial Innovation, an independent think tank entity, in association with PwC. The 2017 report is based on 836 responses from insurance companies, regulators and insurance industry observers from 52 countries.

The top five risks identified by this report include the following:

1. Change management risk (ranked no 15 four years ago) - fast-growing markets, increased customer expectations and new distribution channels threaten the traditional insurance companies' models

2. Cyber-risk - considered as a URGENT threat, has appeared relatively recently on the risk scene analyzed by insurance companies as a result of the extraordinary development of digital channel in insurance activity.

3. Technological risk - the use of technology to improve internal processes will be the key to minimizing administrative costs but will bring exposures due to increased dependency of the business on hardware and software applications

4. Interest rate risk - continues to pose a significant risk to the insurance industry as a result of concerns about economic instability and low interest rates.

5. Investment performance risk - remains on the same ranking as in 2016. The combination of low interest rates and volatile markets makes it difficult for insurance companies to identify long-term assets that are appropriate for covering liabilities and generating interesting returns.

The full text of the Insurance Banana Skins 2017 report can be found here