Insurance industry adjusts to tariffs and trade wars  March 27th 2025

Insurers shift investment strategies as inflation concerns resurface: Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs Asset Management, an investment firm managing assets across diverse sectors, has released its 14th Annual Global Insurance Survey, offering insight into how insurers are adjusting their investment strategies in response to evolving economic challenges.

With inflation concerns intensifying, 52% of insurers now identify it as the most significant macroeconomic risk to their portfolios—an increase from 42% in 2024 and approaching levels seen in 2023.

The survey, based on responses from 405 Chief Investment Officers (CIOs) and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) overseeing more than $14 trillion in assets, highlights how firms are repositioning their portfolios to navigate shifting market conditions.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s findings indicate that, despite inflationary pressures and slowing economic growth, insurers continue to allocate capital toward private assets.

“Our 14th Annual Global Insurance Survey shows insurers are navigating evolving macroeconomic concerns by rotating toward asset classes with the potential to provide both attractive risk-adjusted returns and diversification benefits,” added Mike Siegel, Global Head of Insurance Asset Management and Liquidity Solutions for Goldman Sachs Asset Management. “Amid this industry-wide rotation, important new trends in liquidity management may be developing.”

The Ultimate Guide to Vehicle Data. How Vehicle Data is Shaping the Future of Auto Insurance

Smarter, safer, better vehicles should be less risky to operate and, when built with repair and resilience in mind, may also be cheaper and easier to fix when accidents do happen.

The technologies car makers introduce to make vehicles “smarter, safer, better” may be optional equipment and can cause variations in initial value of the new vehicle and retained value as that vehicle hits used car years which in turn has lingering effects on insurance. Auto insurance companies are increasingly using vehicle data to improve their risk assessment and pricing models for vehicles, drivers, driving conditions, operator behavior, and surrounding traffic.

The vehicle data we will discuss in this guide includes connected car data, driver data, and data as it relates to features on a vehicle. This data can be collected from a variety of sources, including in-car sensors, GPS data, and even social media. By analyzing this data, insurers can better understand how drivers behave and how likely they are to get into accidents. This information can then be used to offer more personalized insurance rates and to provide drivers with more accurate information about their risk.

There are several ways that vehicle data can be used to make auto insurance companies more competitive.

LINK TO COMPLETE REPORT

How to reach the rising generations of insurance professionals

Millennials and Gen Zers are hopeful about the future of insurance, especially with the power of technology by their side.

By catering to the younger generations’ desire for technological innovation, insurance businesses can reshape their future.

The insurance industry is facing a talent crisis.

Less than 25% of the industry's workforce is under the age of 35. And within the next 15 years or so, half of the workforce is expected to retire, Accenture reports. Millennials and Gen Zers too often see insurance as a slow-moving, paper-driven environment that doesn’t offer the exciting career opportunities they are looking for, making it hard to recruit them.

Those already in insurance know that it is a rewarding profession. They’ve seen firsthand how their work protects their clients and comes to their aid when they need it most. They’ve also been in the trenches of the industry’s digital transformation, integrating technology to further this important work. While the younger generations overwhelmingly recognize this progress, they also see room for improvement with technology adoption.

We as an industry need to do more to show the potential a career in insurance has to offer. These tech-savvy generations have a lot to offer. If they see the value our industry provides its customers, we can attract talent that will no doubt transform the way we work, making our businesses more efficient so that we can continue our mission of protecting customers.

So how do we get Millennials and Gen Zers excited about insurance?

Digitally connected In a recent Ivans client survey of Gen Z/Millennial insurance professionals, nearly 70% of survey respondents said the industry's biggest growth opportunity is offering quick and easy digital experiences. That shouldn’t be surprising since these younger generations have grown up with technology. Tools like ChatGPT and social media have become ingrained in their personal lives, and they expect it in their professional lives as well.

NICB: U.S. Vehicle Thefts in Decreased by 17% in 2024

Vehicle thefts in the U.S. fell by 17% in 2024 from a year earlier, the largest annual decrease in vehicles stolen in the last 40 years, a new report shows.

In 2024, 850,708 vehicles were stolen nationwide, down from a peak of 1,020,729 thefts in 2023. The drop in thefts reported by the National Insurance Crime Bureau was the first time since 2021the total number of stolen vehicles fell below 1 million.

NICB data show the trend in U.S. vehicle thefts in the past five years:

• 2020 – 880,595
• 2021- 932,329
• 2022- 1,008,756
• 2023- 1,020,729
• 2024- 850,708

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Homeowners Repair Cycle Length Reaches All-Time HighHomeowners Repair Cycle Length Reaches All-Time High

Homeowners claims are taking longer to resolve than ever before with the average claim cycle time—from filing the claim to finished repairs—now 32.4 days, says J.D. Power.

Catastrophic events and homeowners premium increases across the country have combined with slow repair cycle times to dampen customer satisfaction with the homeowners insurance claims experience, according to the J.D. Power “2025 U.S. Property Claims Satisfaction StudySM."

Homeowners claims are taking longer to resolve than ever before. The average claim cycle time—from filing the claim to finished repairs—is now 32.4 days. The average cycle time from first notice of loss to final payment is now 44 days. Both are the longest times ever recorded by the study, which began in 2008.

For claims that are completed within 10 days, the average customer satisfaction score is 762 on a 1,000-point scale, according to J.D. Power. For claims that take more than 31 days to repair, the score falls to 595.

Catastrophic events continued to plague the homeowners market in 2024, with 27 individual weather and climate disasters with at least $1 billion in damages in the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). That's topped only by the record-setting 28 events in 2023.

As catastrophes continue to pile up, “homeowners insurers are currently losing roughly one nickel on every dollar of premium they collect, and with total cost of events like the California wildfires still being assessed, there seems to be no end in sight," said Mark Garrett, director of insurance intelligence at J.D. Power. “Customers are, in essence, paying higher prices for slower service. The average claimant does not receive final payment on a claim until 44 days after the first notice of loss, and unless insurers are communicating frequently and clearly along the way, customer satisfaction suffers."