CEOs confident about long-term growth: PwC

Insurance CEOs are more confident about the prospects for long-term revenue growth than their counterparts in other industries, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers 12th Annual Global CEO survey, Redefining Success.
Of the 1,124 CEOs surveyed between Sept. 10 and Dec. 2, 2008, 46% of the insurance CEOs note they are very confident, as compared to 34% of the total survey population, according to PwC.
Furthermore, 26% of insurance CEOs are very confident about the outlook for their industry as a whole, versus 20% of the overall sample.
The PwC report says insurance CEOs are more concerned than CEOs in other industries about various risks, including:
•    disruption of the capital markets;
•    climate change;
•    protectionist tendencies of national governments;
•    over-regulation;
•    inflation;
•    pandemics;
•    availability of key skills;
•    technology interruptions; and
•    inadequacy of basic infrastructure.
“Insurers learned valuable lessons from the downturn of 2001-03, as a result of which they have improved their risk management and cut their exposure to equities,” PWC notes. “They believe themselves to be on a better financial footing this time around.”
This could explain why many insurers are not making large personnel cuts, PwC suggests.
According to the CEOs surveyed, only 15% of insurance CEOs intend to cut the number of people employed, as compared to 26% of the total survey sample. In fact, 39% of the respondents say they will increase their headcount, PwC adds.