Recently released market study: New Zealand Insurance Report Q3 2011

July 6, 2011 - PRLog -- Key Insights And Key Risks

*  The government has intervened to save many households in Christchurch from losing not only their homes but their insurance cover, after AMI, which said it is the largest wholly New Zealand-owned fire and general insurer, found itself thoroughly under-reinsured.
 *  In March 2011, credit rating agency Standard & Poor's revised the outlook on New Zealand's nonlife market from stable to negative. It highlighted its expectation that the earthquakes there will affect the earnings and capital strength of the country's insurance companies.
 *  The life sector is underdeveloped and needs some innovative ideas to bring it to the forefront of the consumers' minds.
 *  The overall insurance sector remains fairly resilient.


There are two fundamental aspects characterising New Zealand's insurance industry in 2011. The first aspect is the outcome of several large catastrophic natural events.The country suffered significantly from earthquakes earlier this year and there were severe blizzards last winter. To highlight the scale of the country's damage costs, according to International Insurance News, a breakdown of Ace's estimated costs for three large individual natural events showed that the earthquake in Christchurch accounted for the largest proportion, US$115mn, while events in Australia accounted for US$80mn and the winter storms in the US for US$15mn.

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Full Report Details at
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The second aspect is that the life sector in particular is very underdeveloped. Life penetration in the country (ie: premiums per capita) is broadly the same as in Poland or the Czech Republic and well behind the UK, the US and Australia. Some large insurance companies that had expanded into New Zealand have gently withdrawn themselves.Product development is certainly underway and we must wait to see if the natural disasters cause the general public to have a change of heart towards life insurance. As this is unlikely, we expect life penetration to remain constant throughout the forecast period to 2015.

Non-life penetration in New Zealand is not much better but it is better.The difference is that market protagonists seem to see plenty of scope for penetration to increase. The development of new, attractively priced products is underway to meet the challenges that the country faces from nature. New products include those dedicated to compensating for similar disasters to those that have recently occurred, such as the winter blizzards that destroyed much livestock.

Report Table of Contents:

Executive Summary
- Table: Total Premiums, 2008-2015
- Key Insights And Key Risks
SWOT Analysis
- New Zealand Insurance Industry SWOT
- New Zealand Political SWOT
- New Zealand Economic SWOT
- New Zealand Business Environment SWOT
Life
- Asia Pacific Life Sector Overview
- Table: Asia Pacific's Life Premiums, 2008-2015 (US$mn)
- New Zealand Life Sector Update
- Life Industry Forecast Scenario
- Table: Total Life Premiums, 2005-2015
- Growth Drivers And Risk Management Projections
- Table: Insurance Sector Key Drivers - Demographics 2008-2015
Non-Life
- Asia Pacific Market Non-Life Sector Overview
- Table: Asia Pacific's Non-Life Premiums, 2008-2015 (US$mn)
- New Zealand Non-Life Sector Update
- Non-Life Industry Forecast Scenario
- Table: Total Non-Life Premiums, 2008-2015
- Growth Drivers And Risk Management Projections
- Macroeconomic Outlook
- Table: New Zealand Economic Activity, 2008-2015
- Political Stability Overview
Insurance Business Environment
- Table: New Zealand's Insurance Risk/Reward Ratings
- Table: Asia Pacific Insurance Risk/Reward Ratings
Competitive Landscape
- Competitive Landscape Analysis
- Major Players In New Zealand's Insurance Sector
- Table: Gross Written Premiums And Estimated Market Shares, Year To June 30 2010
- Earthquake Commission
- Accident Compensation Corporation
- Table: ACC Accounts
- Health Funds
- Other Asset Pools
Company Profiles
- Local Company Profiles
- AMI
- Farmers Mutual Group
- Regional Company Profiles
- Allianz
- AMP
- Asteron
- AXA
- Chartis    
- IAG
- Tower
- Vero
- Zurich
BMI Methodology
- Insurance Risk/Reward Ratings
- Table: Insurance Risk/Reward Indicators And Rationale
- Table: Weighting Of Indicators

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Fast Market Research is an online aggregator and distributor of market research and business information. We represent the world's top research publishers and analysts and provide quick and easy access to the best competitive intelligence available.