Life insurers adapt pandemic risk models after claims jump

US insurers MetLife and Prudential Financial also said life insurance claims rose. South Africa’s Old Mutual used up more of its pandemic provisions to pay claims and reinsurer Munich Re raised its 2021 estimate of Covid-19 life and health claims to �600mil (RM2.87bil) from �400mil (RM1.91bil).(Metlife's HQ in New York - Fil pic)

LONDON: A coronavirus pandemic which lasts five years, another pandemic in a decade, and ever more transmissible variants are among the scenarios life insurers are predicting after Covid-19 claims jumped more than expected in 2021.

The global life insurance industry was hit with reported claims due to Covid-19 of US$5.5bil (RM22.98bil) in the first nine months of 2021 versus US$3.5bil (RM14.62bil) for the whole of 2020, according to insurance broker Howden in a report on Jan 4, while the industry had expected lower payouts due to the rollout of vaccines.