Resilience and the risk and insurance industry

A famous Bill Gates Ted Talk in 2015 already mentioned that the great global risk of the upcoming years was not a nuclear war, but a pandemic caused by a virus that could infect and threaten the lives of millions of people around the world.

And it seems that we were not prepared to face that situation. Although this pandemic is not the first pandemic the humanity has experienced, the global outbreak of covid-19 is one of these unprecedented major events, given its speed and proportion, making it clear that the problems of the 21^stcentury are increasingly complex, bringing another urgency and dimension to the human being’s ability to adapt and recover.

The fact is that there are many lessons to be learned from this crisis. From a personal point of view, one lesson is the importance we give to risk prevention in our lives, and from a business point of view, what we will do to better prepare ourselves for the risks to which we are exposed.

The challenges of the risk and insurance industry

Recently, life and travel insurances, which in majority did not offer pandemics coverage, are relaxing this clause at this moment. “Companies and beneficiaries should understand, however, what the definitions for their policiesare”, says Verena Sá, from Horiens’ Personal Insurance area.

She says that since the beginning of the pandemic, she has been in dialogue on this issue with insurers and policyholders: “The impact of the pandemic on insurance relations is a relevant issue for all parties – people, companies, insurers and brokers. We manage policies with more than 35,000 lives and we are actively participating in the discussions. And this role we play is further strengthened in moments of crisis like this one we are experiencing”, explains Verena Sá.

“Horiens’ performance was essential for me to have updated information and to make decisions safely in the covid-19 scenario. I live and work in South Africa and I had purchased international travel insurance through Horiens for my in-laws, who came to visit us. When the pandemic was announced, I had many doubts regardingthe coverage in case we needed to use the insurance and I could count on all the support of the company”, tells Flavio Rosa, member of OEC, one of the companies served by Horiens.

The pandemic exclusion clause exists basically so that events of unforeseen extension do not expressively exceed the calculation of the risk originally defined: “If, on one hand, this is a legitimate logic, on the other, it is necessary to think about strategies and approaches that speak to the challenges of a world that is changing at an indescribable speed. The risk and insurance industry in Brazil has remained attentive and proactive, in line with the best practices. This is extremely positive,” says LaudelinoSoares, head of Personal Insurance at Horiens.

Paula Bernardoni, director of distribution and planning at Prudential do Brasil, explains that the decision to include coverage because of the new Coronavirus in the policies involved a very careful process: “We carried out a detailed actuarial study with the purpose of indemnifying damages due to the new Coronavirus in a safe and efficient manner,” she says.

In her opinion, the great challenge now is going through this big crisis in the health industry, and facing a disease without a history and previous statistics that help in the decision making process.

“Our focus is to remain immersed in the evaluation of the moment with deep responsibility. We are using our experience abroad – since Prudential’s headquarters is in the United States, which is facing the disease very intensely, unfortunately”, says Paula. “At the same time, we have already learned important lessons with this crisis. One of the issues is the development of digital projects, which has made our operations faster and more efficient,” she adds.

The ideathat challenging situations are also moments of reinvention has been provedtrue once again. “Undoubtedly, ithas been an intense period of learning and evolution, even for the sector where we operate. At Horiens, we are committed to intermediating the process in a thorough and qualified manner, and we will certainly come out of this even more prepared to support large industries in their risk mitigation plans”, concludes Verena Sá.