A.M. BestTV: Lebanon Insurers Struggle With Fragmented Market, Says A.M. Best Senior Analyst

Business Wire

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- In this ^A.M.BestTV episode, Alex Rafferty, senior financial analyst, A.M. Best, reviews the issues shaping the insurance market in Lebanon, including how some insurers operate outside control of the insurance regulator. Click on http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=lebanon518 to view the entire program.

Rafferty spoke about some of the challenges insurers are facing in Lebanon.

“Some of the key challenges are the fragmented nature of the Lebanon market, which contributes to a highly competitive marketplace as a wide number of insurance companies vie for market share and generate price competition,” said Rafferty. “Another competitive factor is the role of intermediaries and indirect distribution channels. This detracts from an insurer's ability to generate significant brand loyalty within consumers and amplifies price sensitivity to solutions offered by intermediaries.”

Going forward, Rafferty said he believes the market in Lebanon will continue to be fragmented.

“There are a large number of insurers competing for business. Proposed regulatory reforms include increased solvency regulation and more stringent solvency requirements, which if successfully enforced, could lead to market consolidation as smaller companies may seek to combine or merge to meet the scale required to comply with more stringent capital requirements.”

Recent episodes of ^A.M.BestTV include:

Pre-, Post-Loss Services Key Elements of Cyber Products, Says Cyber Panel: A panel of cyber-risk experts discuss where insurers are in using data to create and price cyber products, and say that clients care about much more than financial indemnity: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=moro4418.

Mutual Insurers Form Tight Bonds With Reinsurers: A panel of insurance and reinsurance executives discusses the increasing role reinsurance is playing in how insurers, particularly mutual insurers, are managing their risks: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=moro3418.
Growing Global Protectionism Undermines Reinsurance: Insurers and industry leaders say nations that restrict cross-border insurance, manipulate interest rates and react to disasters with short-sighted solutions are limiting insurers’ ability to provide a full range of risk solutions: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=moro2418.
Mutuals on Reinsurance Rates: What Can't Be Sustained, Won't Be, Says Expert Panel: A panel of insurers, reinsurers and brokers say 2017's catastrophes brought temporary uncertainty to the market, but there's been little slowdown in reinsurers' pricing wars: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=moro1418.

^A.M.BestTV covers exclusive A.M. Best information and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the (re)insurance industry every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sign up for alerts of episodes at http://www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html. View ^A.M.BestTV episodes at http://www.ambest.tv.

A.M. Best is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.