KUALA LUMPUR (June 1): Malaysian property and casualty (p&c) insurance returned to a solid 3% growth in 2021, after declining by 0.6% in 2020, according to Allianz Global Insurance Report 2022.

In a statement on Wednesday (June 1), Allianz Group said the life segment continued to enjoy robust growth at 8%, benefiting from the increased risk awareness in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.

"Thus, the total market clocked an increase of 6.5%. For 2022, we expect growth to slightly accelerate to 8.3% (life: 9.1%, p&c: 6.3%).

"Over the entire next decade, average growth should reach 6.7% per year (life: 6.9%, p&c: 6.1%). This would be above the pace of the previous decade of 4.5%, reflecting the improved growth outlook," it said.

According to the report, global premiums grew by 5.1% in 2021 (life: 4.4%; p&c: 6.3%), thanks to strong economic tailwinds, rising risk awareness and record-high savings buoyed by booming markets.

Total premium income reached €4.2 trillion (about RM19.77 trillion) (life: €2.5 trillion and p&c: €1.7 trillion).

The year 2021 represented an unusual end to the past decade in which growth was much lower at 3.6% per year on average, with Asia accounting for 40% of all additional premiums, more than half of them written in China. Hence, China’s global market share doubled to 12%, it said.

Allianz said 2022 was expected to be another bumper year for the insurance industry, but the invasion of Ukraine dashed those hopes.

"Overall, we now expect global premium income to grow by 4.8% in 2022, with life and p&c developing almost in step at 4.9% and 4.6%, respectively, against a backdrop of a global inflation rate of 6.2% this year," it added.