Welcome to our EY outlook for Insurance in Ireland in 2018. Here, we examine some of the big themes that will shape our conversations in the coming year.
The Central Bank of Ireland has recently published its first set of results and initial analysis of the new statistical dataset. These statistics portray a robust and diverse industry represented by €303 billion of total assets, including over 200 head office undertakings together with 41 domestic branches. This deeply embedded industry is poised for growth and transformation and in this overview we look to explore the detail of some of those themes.
Whereas social and economic factors support continued optimism in the demand for insurance propositions, the increasing scope, scale and pace of change experienced by insurers continues to place pressure on insurance company executives to prepare for a very different future.
As an executive summary, however, these are the immediate priorities we see in Ireland over the next 12 months:
- Addressing the move from regulatory development under solvency II to the enhanced supervisory model that it brings, including domestic elements such as the enhanced Domestic Actuarial regime while noting the evolving role of EIOPA in a converging capital market union
- Disruption in insurance through a broad array of innovations from process automation, use of artificial intelligence, better use and application of analytics and more recently understanding the application of blockchain through use case and proof of concept initiatives
- Adapting to a surge in authorisation and application activities as companies respond to Brexit and reshape their operating footprints through mergers and acquisitions
- The second wave of finance change is upon us now as companies get ready for IFRS 17, noting that the industry is expecting the scale of change to be at least on a par with those experienced in implementing the financial reporting changes associated with solvency II
- Audit and assurance scopes continue to expand and the world of audit is adapting to better use and deploy technology to deliver value beyond the traditional audit for a lower cost
- And finally, there’s always tax, notwithstanding the renewed vigour and attention on corporate taxation there is still a way to travel on VAT in insurance, spurred on, to some extent, by evolving business models with wider use of shared services and outsourced models
In this publication, we’ll be introducing our Insurance team in Dublin and giving you our thoughts on the big topics on the horizon for 2018, from regulatory changes to digital transformation.
