Published: September 2017

Mutual Support

Sharing economy, meet mutual insurers. Insurers organized under the industry's oldest company type are transforming business models and sharpening their focus on their original missions.

A Foothold in China: China is promoting mutual insurance to diversify its young but rapidly growing insurance industry, and to expand coverage to specific occupational and affinity groups.

A Global Conversation: Mutual Views: We have seen a trend that started really post-financial crisis. We think it's because of a lot of factors, but when you look at consumers today, millennials and, kind of, Main Street versus Wall Street interests, they love to have access to local insurers.

A Mutual Mainstay: Amica Mutual Insurance Co. Chairman, President and CEO Robert A. DiMuccio says if there's one thing he's learned during his 26-year tenure with the Lincoln, Rhode Island-based mutual, it's that being innovative and agile is vital to the company's growth and viability going forward.

Adding Value: In a wide-ranging interview, Stephen Catlin, the former CEO and founder of Catlin who recently announced his retirement from XL Catlin Group as executive deputy chairman, discusses his new book and his entrepreneurial journey in insurance.

Asset Evolution: Although insurers are not dramatically shifting their investment strategies, their asset allocations are changing as the low interest rate environment continues to exert pressure on portfolios.

Capital Ideas: Access to capital can be an issue for mutual insurance companies. Best's Review spoke with Keith Wolfe, president of U.S. P&C at Swiss Re, about how mutuals use reinsurance as part of their capital management structure.

Changing Times, Changing Measures: American Family Insurance realized it was at a crossroads. Remaining a mutual insurance company owned by its policyholders for its 90-year history could hold it back from expanding the business through new products and services as well as future acquisitions.

Common Denominator: Two decades after a wave of demutualization swept North America, regulation is still catching up to enable property/casualty writers to convert from shareholder-owned entities to public companies.

From the Editor's Desk: Mutual Thoughts: Everything old is new again. The millennial generation talks about the sharing economy, building community and pooling resources. In the world of insurance however, those concepts predate all of us.

Insight: A New Reality: Shortly after Nintendo's Pokémon GO burst onto the scene in 2016, insurers and agents started paying close attention to both augmented reality and virtual reality.

Insight: Government of the People?: To quote Abraham Lincoln: "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." While it is often said that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, we need to remember that the same can be said of a journey to nowhere.

Insight: Summer of Discontent: The Health Care Debacle: Congressional Republicans' "Summer of Discontent" is mercifully over, but their epic failure to pass health care reform--despite eight years of promises and control over both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue—will most assuredly continue to dog them through the 2018 midterm elections and beyond.

Insight: The Blockchain Opportunity: Blockchain is currently one of the hottest topics in financial services. First introduced as the technology behind the currency bitcoin, its value and potential are now recognized much more broadly.

Issues & Answers: Mutual Success: Mutual insurance companies and service providers discuss the specialized advantages and needs of the mutual structure.

Lane Shift Ahead: America's driving habits are on the move. The signs are everywhere: Uber and Lyft rides are so convenient that even teens may put off demands for their own car.

Last Word: Mutual Appreciation: Mutuals are a mainstay in the insurance industry--currently comprising just under 40% of the overall market, according to the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. But that wasn't always the case.

League of Its Own: State Farm made headlines last year when it posted a $7 billion underwriting loss in its auto insurance line of business. The size of that 2016 loss--it was larger than the GDP of 45 countries, according to World Bank statistics—was stunning.

Lessons Learned: When Stephen Catlin retires at the end of this year as executive deputy chairman of XL Catlin, a commercial insurance giant he helped to found, his hope is to have captured the accumulated wisdom of more than 30 years in the business in a just-released book.

Life and P/C Mutuals Listing: Grouped by organization type with A.M. best number and state of domicile.

Mutual Advantage: The sparkling tower of glass and steel rises high above the city, assuming a dominant presence in the Milwaukee skyline. The sleek skyscraper features gentle curves and panoramic views of Lake Michigan.

Next Wave: A Fresh Start: September marks the beginning of autumn. It's also the time of year when students go back to school.

Spotlights:

  • Spotlight on Technology - Exec: Insurtech Search Driven By Value Chain Inefficiency
  • Spotlight on Retirement - Insurers, Trade Groups Seek Delay in DOL Rule Deadline

Top 50 Global Reinsurance Groups: Ranked by unaffiliated gross premiums written in 2016.

Top U.S. Life/Annuity Insurers: Ranked by policies issued and in-force.

Uncommon Conversion: As he traveled across the state of Massachusetts, explaining to policyholders why Savings Bank Life Insurance wanted to convert from a stock company to a mutual company, Jim Morgan repeatedly faced the same question: You can do that?

What A.M. Best Says: European Data Regulation: With less than a year to go before its implementation on May 25, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is high on the agenda of (re)insurers operating within the European Union (EU) or providing services to EU residents.