Recession will affect buying behaviour

The financial crisis and the resultant economic recession will have a strong — perhaps major — impact on customers’ buying behaviour, according to 45% of the insurance and reinsurance CEOs surveyed by the Geneva Association.
The annual survey of 40 industry leaders was conducted during the 26th General Assembly of The Geneva Association in Kyoto at the end of May.
Among those who said the crisis would affect buying behaviour, survey respondents identified the erosion of consumer confidence, increasing demands on product transparency and the financial solidity of insurance providers as some of the driving forces, according to the Geneva Association Information Newsletter.
Three of out four of those surveyed, however, expect the recession to have only a mild or somewhat negative effect on their company’s bottom line.
The effects of the economic contraction witnessed in all major economies are expected to be partially offset by “opportunities for insurers, as customers will need greater protection in an uncertain world,” as one CEO commented in the newsletter.
The global economy is expected to return to a path of sustainable growth between the second and fourth quarter of 2010, according to two-thirds of the CEOs surveyed.