Transformation of global insurance industry under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic

This article examines the transformation of the global insurance industry under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The author examines the roles of regulators, governments, consumers of insurance services, insurance, and reinsurance companies in responding to the new challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic was an unexpected factor for the global insurance industry, and as because of the global crisis caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, there was a need to assess the transformation of processes in it. Accordingly, the materials of experts of international insurance associations were analyzed, in particular: International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), The International Credit Insurance and Surety Association (ICISA), European Federation of Insurance Intermediaries (BIPAR), International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (IASIE) and others. The division of insurance market participants into two classes has been substantiated. In one class, there are consumers of insurance services and the insurance market regulators. In another class, there are insurance associations, insurance, and reinsurance companies. Based on the studies and reports of international insurance associations, the author revealed conflict escalation between insurance, reinsurance companies, governments (US, EU, China), and insurance market regulators due to the requirements of compliance with the principle of expediency and transparency in control and supervision, increased demands for reserves and quality assets, changes in the assessment of solvency, constant changes in regulations and requirements for additional information. From the considered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic given the existing regulatory documents Solvency II and IFRS-17, the problem of ambiguous formations in the regulatory acts in the paragraphs “Terms of the insurance contract” and “Exclusion of the insurance contract”– interpretation of the word: “material damage” and the difference in the words: “epidemic” and “pandemic”. Paper identifies the problems of these ambiguous formations in the normative-legal interpretation of the world regulatory bodies, the postulate of Solvency II and the lawsuits that caused these formations. The comparative analysis of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic was performed using the S&P 500 and S&P Insurance Select Industry indices. There was a shock due to the pandemic and the forecasted expectations of investors, who negatively assessed the insurance