- Three-year mandate until 2021
- Natural disasters, pensions, cyber risk and big data are the big global issues
At the general assembly of Insurance Europe, the federation representing the interests of European insurance and reinsurance companies, held in Madrid yesterday, Andreas Brandstetter, CEO of UNIQA Insurance Group AG (UNIQA), was elected as president for the next three years.
As the interest group for European insurance associations, Insurance Europe is in intensive dialogue with the relevant EU institutions. In addition to the European Parliament and its members, these particularly include the commissioners for the financial market, consumer protection and the internal market and the working groups of the European Council. Brandstetter comments: “Besides the upcoming review of Solvency II and necessary adjustments to regulatory provisions, I see two major challenges for the coming years: firstly, underinsurance throughout Europe with regard to natural disasters, pension insurance and cyber risks, and secondly the question of careful handling of customer data in the digital era.”
Underinsurance as a risk for society
“As a result of underinsurance for natural disasters, only a third of the losses totalling €280 billion in 2017 were covered by insurance. Underinsurance for pensions represents an irresponsible national economic risk that European governments are currently imposing on our children and grandchildren. Based on the demographic development and rising life expectancy, this ‘pension gap’ is estimated at €59 trillion globally. We want to encourage European legislators to be open, to seek solutions in line with their long-term responsibility and to set incentives that motivate European citizens to take out private pensions,” says Brandstetter.
Big data and consumer protection
The big issue for the future is big data and artificial intelligence. Global consumer protection needs to be a top priority in the digital era. For European insurance companies, the basic principle is that our customers should always be able to decide independently how their data is used. But at the same time, we are engaging in intensive dialogue with the European institutions to carefully ensure that the same rules apply to all market participants, including fintechs and insurtechs and especially tech platforms and tech giants from outside Europe.”
UNIQA
The UNIQA Group is one of the leading insurance groups in its core markets of Austria and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Around 20,000 employees and exclusive sales partners serve over 9.5 million customers in 18 countries. UNIQA is the second-largest insurance group in Austria with a market share of more than 22 per cent. UNIQA operates in 15 markets in the CEE growth region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine. The UNIQA Group also includes insurance companies in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.