European Insurance Report 2015 1 Next generation insurance - insights into the behaviour and beliefs of the European consumer Dr John Schoonbee, Chief Medical Officer, EMEA, Swiss Re IAA Colloquium 2015, Oslo, Norway, 7-10 th June 2015
European Insurance Report 2015 1
Next generation insurance - insights into thebehaviour and beliefs of the European consumer
Dr John Schoonbee, Chief Medical Officer, EMEA, Swiss ReIAA Colloquium 2015, Oslo, Norway, 7-10th June 2015
European Insurance Report 2015
• 2010, 2012….. 2015
This is the 3rd Swiss Re European Insurance Report
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European Insurance Report 2015
• Mortality gap of over EUR 10'000 billion
• However, the focus this time is on where gaps may
• exist in what the industry offers and what the consumer actually wants.
• We question how visible the life insurance industry is to the general publicand how we can change perceptions in order to put life and healthinsurance back on the agenda.
2010 Report focussed on Mortality
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Swiss Re European Insurance Report, 2010
European Insurance Report 2015
• Focus this time was on where gaps may exist in what the industry offers,and what the consumer actually wants.
• We also questioned how visible the life insurance industry is to the generalpublic, and what their perceptions were
2012 Report focussed on Consumer perceptions
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Swiss Re European Insurance Report, 2012
European Insurance Report 2015
European Insurance Report 2015 focusses on Health andDisability, particularly in the elderly
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• Over 13'000 consumers, or potential consumers
• Online survey with 40 questions (and sub questions)
• 3 Regions
– Continental Europe – 10 countries
– Middle East – 1 country
– Great Britain – 2 countries
• Ages 21 to 75, with a slight weighting at older ages to better represent thisgroup
About the research
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European Insurance Report 2015
• Ireland
• United Kingdom
• Sweden
• Spain
• France
• Italy
• Germany
About the research
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• Switzerland
• Poland
• The Netherlands
• Belgium
• Turkey
• Israel
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European Insurance Report 2015
Current landscape
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European Insurance Report 2015
• Increasing older ages
• Decreasing fertility
• Demographic shift
• Pressure on state support
• Consumer inaction
The silver tsunami
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• Comparing responses to different questions in 2012 and 2015 highlightsindividuals' inertia to turn their intention into action
(Will do it) "Tomorrow…"
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• In 2012 clear belief that the state would be less responsible to cover certainhealth and social costs in 10 years (increased individual responsibility)
• Yet in 2015 it is clear the "current" individual responsibility is no different tothe then "current" individual responsibility of 2012
• However who should be responsible in 10 years time (2015 survey) showsan almost identical understanding of the lack of sustainability of the state tocontinue in the same way, so there is still a clear belief as to the futuredecrease of state support,
• Yet this concern also seems to "roll forward" in that the decrease will besome time in the future, yet the answer "today", be that today in 2012, 2015or likely in the future seems to continue expecting continued levels of statesupport
Who is responsible?
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Retirement has been occurring early in many countries
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But official retirement ages have reversed the decreasingtrend due to the increase in longevity and pension liability
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Current expenditure is not sustainable – it has to decreaseat some point
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A perfect storm is brewing
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What is needed?
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Top concerns that makeconsumers take outinsurance
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• Currently, almost half (45%)would pay for support in laterlife out of their personalsavings
• 39% would have to rely onstate benefits
• Only 17% have a policy tocover care costs in later life
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Paying for additional support in later life
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• Bundle of protectionfor each lifestage
• Life protection iscrucial for those whoprovide financialsupport
We already have many products
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What is needed
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What is perhaps needed are not newproducts per se, but varying new
structures and flexibility ofexisting products sold at different
ages, and incentivising andencouraging consumers to buy these
products.
European Insurance Report 2015
How vulnerable do you feel?
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Of those experiencing a health event, the financial consequences areharrowing
How did you pay for any financial implications your healthevent may have had?
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Disability Gap using 60% income replacement ratio
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• Higher income groups havea higher gap
• Lowest income receive statesupport that covers theirneeds
• Highest income groups havethe most individual cover
• Women in general are lesslikely to have disabilityinsurance than men
• Homemakers have littleinsurance despite theirimportant role within afamily
Disability Gap using 60% income replacement ratio
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Challenging oldideas
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• For this Report, we asked the participants what price they thought as ‘tooexpensive’, ‘too cheap’ or actually ‘good value’ for a policy that wouldreplace 60% of their income in the case of disability.
• Countries that have a well-established disability insurance market already(such as the UK, Ireland, and Germany) show a similar expectation of whatto pay for disability protection. However countries that have neither much interms of state disability benefits or private protection products (such asTurkey) show optimal premium rates that are relatively higher.
• Another observed insight, across a number of countries and across the agerange, is that the expected price for what was considered to be a “good”deal is consistently higher than the prices one finds on web comparisonsites offering insurance.
Price as a barrier
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Perceived vs. real cost of disability insurance:Cumulative percentage who believe the average marketprice for disability cover is too expensive
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• Do you find the details of financial products hard to understand?
Complexity as a barrier : Are complex products a reasonconsumers do not buy insurance?
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(implying that having a simple product would lead to more sales),
49% of that group (who would select offering based onreading details) admit to finding it hard to understandfinancial products
Even though about half of those that said they wouldselect an insurance offering based on reading the detailsof the policy…
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How important is brand when buying insurance?
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• Older consumers consider brand significantly more important for insurancepurchases.
• Having young children also leads consumers to be more predisposed toconsider brand important when buying insurance.
• This suggests that where the insurance is felt to be more critical and theneed more real – brand is more important
How important is brand when buying insurance?
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• Cohorts of generations will be in different financial positions, and haveexperienced different "lifecourse"
• This lifecourse can alter perceptions, beliefs, and financial decisions andbehaviour (for themselves), and ultimately advice given to family members
• As young consumers are more likely to get financial advice from consumers,we might consider what lifecourse their "elder" family members haveexperienced
Challenging our Engagement:Lifecourse vs lifestage
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• increasingly common that older people are among the ‘sandwichgeneration’ - largely refers to working people with dependent children andparents
• but grandparents may be increasingly in this group too!
• one in five grandparents in France has at least one living parent
• the financial and emotional strain on them can be intense, with a proportionproviding some form of care to an ageing parent and young grandchildren.
Challenging our Engagement:Lifecourse of older ages changing
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• Digital aversion ingeneral, as a % ofconsumers, is differentfor different countries
Distribution channel as a barrier
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• Different digital behaviour or previous experiences materially changes riskaversion to buying insurance
Distribution channel as a barrier
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Swiss Re European Insurance Report, 2015
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• there’s no statistical relationship between ownership and people’sestimates of their chance of needing care beyond the age of 70 – even ifthey think that chance is 100%.
(lack of) risk perception as a barrier
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• Accurate assessment of riskbut no difference in thosewho do or do not owninsurance
(lack of) risk perception as a barrier
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Finding solutions
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• We have a product with little orno immediate benefit, yet only apossible future benefit
• "Convincing" consumers to buythis is perhaps not going todecrease the gap – we alreadyhave tried this
• Changing the message – usingbehavioural economics – is away to increase penetrationand ownership of insurance
Changing contexts, not changing minds
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• Our main competitor, is likely not something that competes financially for apremium payment every month, but INACTION
• Dealing with that requires a clearly different strategy
Insurance products and our greatest competition
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Do consumers know they have protection gaps?
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Source: European Insurance Report 2015, Swiss Re
European Insurance Report 2015
We asked respondents what they thought the likelihood of certain eventsoccurring to them was.
many actually had a relatively accurate understanding ofthe risks
but this knowledge had no effect at all on the
likelihood of ownership of insurance products
which corresponded to and mitigated the risk in question.
Do consumers know they face risks?
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Source: European Insurance Report 2015, Swiss Re
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Using "system 1" – slow analytical decisionmaking?
or
Should we also use "system 2" – fast,unconscious, associative?
So how to we get potential consumers to increase theirprotection?
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(from Thinking, Fast & Slow)
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• Whilst it is critical that we make the product we are selling relevant, it isequally important that we sell the product in a relevant way.
• Advertising life cover at the checkout counter in a supermarket when peopleare paying for their groceries might not engage many consumers, but asubtle shift to advertising life cover in an aisle where the baby supplies arestocked might make a meaningful connection.
• What may work better at the checkout could be advertising disability coverthat pays grocery bills – “will you be able to afford groceries if you couldn’twork next month” – creating a much clearer link to the need being coveredand the consumer’s current context.
Not just what we sell, but how, and when; and also weneed to appreciate lifestage and lifecourse…
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Decreasing mortality and morbidity will benefit societyand individuals
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Legal notice
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