Insurance Challenges and Digitalization in 2022

By: Lotfi Al-Sarori

As the whole world was on the precipice of the COVID crisis and its effects, a lot of remarkable impacts were registered in business history as a whole. This impact can also be seen in the insurance industry as the pandemic had its toll on this key sector. Insurance businesses worldwide faced many challenges during the pandemic.

In this article, we focus on three main challenges facing the insurance industry in 2022. The first one has to do with the direct impact of the pandemic itself while the other two relate to how the pandemic created or intensified the need for workforce expansion and better cybersecurity.

Digital apps are helping to mitigate insurance risks

By: Cesilia Faustina

The popularity of e-commerce is a growing phenomenon, it is one that has been fuelled with the rise of COVID-19. Many businesses are forced to move into the digital sphere in order to maintain their income. This trend has now led to the dependency of insurance companies towards digital platforms. (Re)insurers are looking at the rise of digital wallets and e-commerce platforms to help them mitigate their losses and close protection gaps.

Usage of digital platforms is especially becoming a big deal with emerging markets, such as countries like India, Indonesia, and Malaysia. According to a survey by Swiss Re Institute, 70 percent of respondents expressed interest in using online channels to purchase insurance. The survey had also showed that 68 percent of the 1,800 respondents in these three countries were using digital platforms at least once a week. COVID-19 has pushed government policies to support an online environment in order to create a safer process for consumers.

Beyond COVID: What role can InsureTech play in the travel insurance landscape?

By: Omar Abdul-Hafiz

It is no exaggeration that 2020 was a big, unexpected super blow to the global travel industry as a whole. According to the latest data from the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, “international tourist arrivals fell by 72% in January-October 2020.” This plunge had manifested in restrictions on travel and low consumer confidence. Furthermore, it ignited a global struggle to contain the COVID-19 virus. These factors alone easily made it the worst year for tourism ever recorded.

But amidst all these harsh events, there is always a gleam of hope. With vaccines going into action already, we can already see the light at the end of the tunnel. And this is a big chance for us to learn a lesson or two for the future.

Top insurance risks to watch for in 2021

By: Cesilia Faustina

The insurance sector has experienced its fair share of hardships since the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to S&P, reinsurers stated about $12 billion in COVID-19 loses in the first six months of 2020. HSBC had also reported that COVID-19 claims had increased three times during the second quarter of 2020, from $6 billion to $20 billion, many of which came from the property and casualty sector. That said, such losses are to be expected for the insurance sector during a pandemic and (re)insurers are generally prepared for loss events. Overall, the insurance sector has fought resiliently despite the challenges of the pandemic, of course, financial losses will need time to work themselves out and insurance specific efforts will be needed to support this recovery. With many of the financial markets recovering though, we can only expect greater rehabilitation plans for this sector in 2021.