<p><em>A recent survey puts ball in the court of management to take the Indian insurance industry to new heights from here</em><br><br>Contrary to the global view, Indian insurance industry puts regulatory environment in least risk category. Regulations, interestingly tops the risk concern for most of the global insurance players.<br><br>This is the result from CSFI’s latest ‘Insurance Banana Skins 2015’ survey, conducted in association with PwC, which polled over 800 insurance practitioners and industry observers in 54 countries (including India), to find out where they saw the greatest risks over the next 2-3 years. The survey was conducted in March and April 2015 and is based on 806 responses.<br><br>For Indian insurers these are the 5 major risk concerns:<br>• Change management<br>• Long tail liabilities: Risk impacting net worth of insurer and re-insurance need<br>• Investment performance<br>• Cyber risk<br>• Quality of management<br><br>With management concern coming up twice among top five risks, a lot needs to be addressed before time runs out in this fast changing environment.<br><br>There are two other insights from the survey results.<br>• India’s ‘above average’ score on the Banana Skins Index implies a higher level of risk anxiety.<br><br>• And, India scores above average on the Preparedness Index as well implying a higher level of risk preparedness.<br><br><br>Sharing his thoughts on India findings, Anuraag Sunder, Director, PwC India said, “Respondents from India perceive regulation as the least important risk and this could only be a reflection of the new reality where post the FDI changes, industry has accepted the new set of regulations as 'new normal'. They are now more focused on 'Change management', which is ranked as the top business risk. Fast paced changes on the ever-evolving customer side and increasing demand of digital interface is also a reflection of 'change management' that insurers would need to walk through.<br><br>Peep into survey’s take on digital Insurance: As India’s customers continue to adopt technology in a big way, adapting to their ever-evolving expectations, especially from a technology standpoint was high on the priority list of the respondents. On the non-life side the absence of any common data platform to make informed decisions was an area of concern. <br><br>Technology was widely seen as the driving force behind new markets, changing customer demand, and facilitating competition from non-traditional entrants. While the need for insurers to respond to change is nothing new, many respondents saw the current challenges demanding special urgency.<br><br>The concern raised is that the traditional insurance industry will be slow to grasp the opportunity and will end up facing a threat. Developments such as digitisation, the internet and social media are already profoundly influencing price and demand for insurance products, and the means customers use to interact with their insurance providers.<br><br><img alt="" src="http://bw-image.s3.amazonaws.com/insurance-banana-skin-lrg_0.jpg" style="width: 529px; height: 531px; margin: 1px;"></p>
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