Research Outline

Insurance Trends Caribbean

Goals

To understand the health, property, and casualty insurance trends in the Caribbean, and Colonial Insurance Group's sponsorship of Cricket West Indies, as well as coverage of Colonial in the Caribbean as well as other insurers in the sector in order to facilitate a market proposal.

Early Findings

  • Hurricane Dorian could cause the Bahamas and other Caribbean countries' insurance industry losses of up to $25 billion.
  • Experts are saying in the press that the hurricanes that impacted the Bahamas and other Caribbean countries have exposed the lack of adequate insurance in the region.
  • Hurricane insurance in the region mainly "covers the islands’ hospitality industry, not individual residences."
  • The Bermuda insurance industry is currently facing major challenges that have led to small players exiting the market due to lack of profitability and big players struggling to grow organically.
  • The major challenges faced by the insurance industry in Bermuda are due to the "heightened catastrophic losses and diminishing competitive advantage resulting from U.S. tax reform."
  • More merger and acquisition is expected in the Bermuda industry although experts expect the industry to remain resilient "given its strong global position, demonstrated underwriting expertise, robust and effective regulatory backdrop and Solvency II equivalence."
  • Healthcare expenditure in the Bahamas is in the top five in the Caribbean and Latin America but the country is still struggling to implement its National Health Insurance initiative. There are about 390,000 people in Bahamas and 50,000 people are currently enrolled in the National Health Insurance policy of the country, with 87% supporting the expansion of the national health insurance policy.
  • Bahamas struggles with healthcare issues such as diabetes, cancers, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, as well as the impact of violence and infectious disease.