R&M Reports on UK Market

Dublin-based Research and Markets has added a report on the UK insurance market to their offering. It notes that the market is broadly segmented into long-term insurance (pensions, life insurance, income protection insurance, annuities and critical illness insurance) and general insurance (motor, property, accident and health, general liability and pecuniary loss insurance).

R&M’s report concludes that the “industry is emerging from a difficult period of declining income.” 2001, 2003 and 2004 were especially difficult, but the industry “appears to have turned the corner in 2005, although competition remains intense as insurers fight for market share,” said the bulletin.

The report estimates that total net premium income in 2005 was £130.46 billion ($257.3 billion), up from £124.01billion ($244.6 billion) in 2004.

R&M notes that “income from general insurance increased by 26 percent over the review period (2001 to 2005), but income from long-term insurance was virtually the same in 2005 as it was in 2001, although it fluctuated considerably in the intervening years.”

The report highlights the financial importance of the UK’s insurance sector, with 1,167 authorized insurance companies and around 339,000 people who “work in the industry as a whole, i.e. including brokers and loss adjusters.”

While there may be over a thousand companies, R&M indicated that the “market is dominated by fewer than 20 companies, and in the main general insurance sectors usually ten companies command the majority of the sector’s income. The largest companies include: AEGON UK PLC, Allianz Cornhill Insurance PLC, Aviva PLC, AXA Insurance UK PLC, Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd (CIS), HBOS PLC, Legal & General Group PLC, Lloyds TSB Group PLC, The National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society Ltd (NFU Mutual Insurance Society), Prudential PLC, Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Group PLC, RBS Insurance (a subsidiary of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC), Standard Life Assurance Company and Zurich Financial Services (UKISA) Ltd.”

The report also discusses the increasing cases of fraud, the complex and rigorous regulatory environment and claims management problems that the UK’s insurance industry faces, “particularly in the long-term insurance sector.”

Despite the problems, the report predicts growth “for the overall market between 2006 and 2010, with the major growth areas expected to be employers’ liability, pecuniary loss, public liability and professional indemnity insurance.”

For more information go to: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c57216, or contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com; Fax: +353 1 4100 980