Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/19/2014 -- The Irish life insurance segment showed signs of recovery and grew by 2.83% in 2012 compared to the previous year. The recovery was due to increases in pension and retirement products, and regulatory upgrades aimed at dealing with the financial crises faced by the country. Insurers also had to prepare for the implementation of Solvency II. The life segment also leads the Irish insurance industry, accounting for 83.2% of the total gross written premiums in 2012. The Irish life segment is highly concentrated with the 10 leading companies accounting for 98.2% of the total segment's written premiums. Insurance brokers led the Irish life segment in terms of distribution during the review period, and accounted for 46.1% of new written premium business in 2012.
Factors such as reforms in pension law, insurers' efforts to reduce costs and enhance efficiency in terms of writing new business along with product innovations are all expected to drive growth in the Irish life insurance segment over the forecast period (2012-2017).

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Key Highlights

- The Irish life insurance segment showed signs of recovery and grew by 2.83% in 2012 compared to the previous year. The recovery was due to increases in pension and retirement products, and regulatory upgrades aimed at dealing with the financial crises faced by the country.
- Over 50 life insurance products such as life term cover, mortgage cover, pension life cover, income protector policies and annuities products are likely to be affected by the implementation of the gender-neutral policy.
- Since January 2011, the Central Bank of Ireland has implemented a number of regulatory changes to support growth in the insurance industry, including the Corporate Governance Code for Credit Institutions and Insurance Undertakings, the Fitness and Probity Regime, the Minimum Competency Code and the Consumer Protection Code.
- The low investment return, which was primarily due to persistent low interest rates prevailing in the economy, is expected to reduce insurer returns and profits over the forecast period.
- Falling demand for mortgage-related life insurance products, as a result of the decline in the housing market, and shrinking demand for general annuity products further contributed to the decline of the segment.

Scope

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the life insurance segment in Ireland:

- It provides historical values for the Irish life insurance segment for the report's 2008-2012 review period and expected figures for the 2012-2017 forecast period.
- It offers a detailed analysis of the key categories in the Irish life insurance segment, along with market forecasts until 2017.
- It covers an exhaustive list of parameters, including written premium, incurred loss, loss ratio, commissions and expenses, combined ratio, frauds and crimes, total assets, total investment income and retentions.

Companies Mentioned in this Report: Irish Life, New Ireland, Zurich Life Assurance, Standard Life, Aviva Life & Pensions, Canada Life (Ireland), Friends First Managed Pension Funds, Ark, Friends' First Life Assurance Co., The Royal London Mutual

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