Insurance and Financial Industry Trends Explained


by Ed Hulse


The economic crisis in the late 2000s had a transformative effect on insurance and financial industry trends. While the crisis prompted the collapse of a string of financial institutions, it also challenged the accepted economic ideology in the West of finance capitalism. While across the world we saw greater government intervention, the general consensus is that the global crisis has created a new philosophy of eclectic pragmatism.

Corporate responsibility seems to be a great priority than ever before. In a report carried out by Ernst & Young, 2010 saw a significant increase in the number of shareholder resolutions in the United States focused on the environment or other topics associated with corporate responsibility. One hundred and ninety-one resolutions were filed, a sizeable increase from the one hundred a fifty the year before.

Many analysts claim issues of social responsibility and a greater awareness of the environment are soon to be the main priorities of corporations in the United States. Shareholder resolutions with a specific focus on these issues have been increasingly raised at annual general meetings for the past six years. Recently 26% of the shareholders of ExxonMobil told the company to be more transparent to the public regarding its extraction process, claimed by critics to harm the environment.

The recent global economic events have changed widely held beliefs regarding unlimited growth for corporations. Companies now need to shift their focus to sustaining long-term and steady growth as opposed to erratic bursts to meet their numerous financial goals. Sustainability requires a new pragmatic outlook where growth is not hazardously pursued.

The evidence shows that the corporate world struggled to meet impossibly high projections that targeted growth in various market and regional economies. The new ideas of long term growth do however require leaders that are able to quell the desires of investors to observe instant profit in exchange for steady progress. They will need to identify what the new areas of growth are.

Many commentators have estimated the price of insurance will increase as a result of the numerous natural disasters across the globe. In early 2011 there was an array of tragic events in Japan, New Zealand and Australia, devastating communities and rocketing insurance claims.

Lloyds of London, the largest insurance market in the world, said the series of disasters such as earthquakes and floods were likely to firm up insurance rates as companies look to recoup their losses. Caitlin, one of the largest insurers operating in the market, said a broad rise in rates across the market would be expected due to the high number of catastrophe losses in the first quarter of 2011.




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