“More insurance and other financial policies that apply across Europe’s national boundaries must be developed over the next five decades, as large migrant groups join the over fifties as a major market for insurance and other financial services products,” concludes new research published by the UK’s Chartered Insurance Institute (CII).
Prepared in conjunction with Chatham House, the study, “Ageing and migration trends,” assesses the “likely impact on the insurance and financial services sector of the twin phenomena of the ageing of European society and probable large-scale migration to fill the resulting labor vacuum,” said the CII.
“While other parts of the world are likely to experience dramatic population growth over the next half century, the EU is set to see a fall. If a sustainable balance is to be maintained between the working and non-working parts of the population, many people will have to be allowed into the EU to work.
“It is widely accepted that financial services must deal with the ‘graying’ of the market by developing more products such as those that address insurance for health and care costs, and foreign travel. But new products and services for those who settle in the EU, whether temporarily or permanently, will also be needed.”
The research determined that the migrant groups “will be highly diverse, with widely differing needs. The industry must therefore develop a range of products to suit differing nationalities and circumstances. A priority for newly arrived migrants, for example, is sending remittances to their home country, whereas longer-established groups look for life and repatriation insurance.
“The research suggests that motor insurance policies could expand as the introduction of a single EU driving license in 2013 removes the opportunity for driving license tourism, whereby somebody with a ban in one member state can obtain a new permit in another.”
The report’s author, Vanessa Rossi of Chatham House, explained: “All businesses will need to adapt to changing population structures, with far less emphasis on the previously dominant clientele of indigenous 15 to 65 year olds. Despite their typically higher risk profiles, banking and insurance providers and other businesses will need to address the requirements of transient cross-border workers, who could represent more than 100 million of the EU workforce by 2060.”
CII Head of Policy and Research, Laurence Baxter, added: “This valuable research points the way towards a new market that will become increasingly important. Insurance and financial services is a fast moving and flexible industry and there is no doubt that it will rise to the challenge of providing the products that clients from immigrant groups will require.”
Source: Chartered Insurance Institute – www.cii.co.uk
Topics Europe
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