Well, the rocky global economic sitution keeps delivering up surprise tremors. Layered on top of an apparent new-norm backdrop of high inflation and rising interest rates have been yet more crises: the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and then, hot on its heels, the near-collapse of Credit Suisse. Naturally, these events have raised question marks about bank performance (not to say, triggered memories of 2008…), and made investors more cautious. This is being reflected in the market, of course.
So where does that leave us actuaries? It’s hard to know – anything could be around the corner. But in our cover story this month, we try to pin down the main issues facing life and health insurers, which have even more obstacles to surmount: the knock-on effects of Covid in the NHS. Features editor Ruolin Wang sat down with four professionals to gather their thoughts (p32).
And what about non-life reinsurance, after a market hardening and unprecedented renewal at the start of the year? On page 18, I ask tough questions of chief underwriter Michael Hinz, to get his expert P&C insights. With the numbers of natural disasters we’re seeing going in only one direction, there are complex considerations.
Without travelling and contributing to climate change, we can offer you in this issue a guilt-free ‘trip’ to Rome: actuary and classicist George Maher draws economic parallels between today and the ancient regime (p24). Not all that much has changed, it seems… Fly to Bermuda on page 27, where Mikaela O’Brien describes life there as a student. And head to Wales (p36), the birthplace of ‘the first actuary’, the remarkable Richard Price. Enjoy the read.
Yiannis Parizas Editor [email protected]
