Steven Wevodau - Life Insurance

Life Insurance CFO Survey

POSTED BY STEVEN WEVODAU
Source:  Towers Perrin

77% of Respondents Concerned About Economy

More than three-quarters of the respondents to Towers Perrin’s 21st quarterly survey of life insurance company CFOs report concern about their ability to achieve their 2009 growth, profit and risk objectives due to the current economic environment, and only 29% say they are well prepared to face these economic challenges.

To address these economic concerns, CFOs are taking a number of steps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Compared to top responses for 2007, companies are relying less on expanding distribution, products or markets, focusing instead on improved management and financial discipline.

Other findings from the survey:

• Scale is a major hurdle standing in the way of companies’ preparedness to achieve their growth, profit and risk objectives.
• 73% of CFOs are concerned about achieving attractive sales growth rates and only 25% believe they are well prepared to respond to sales growth challenges.
• Companies face multiple economic challenges, including the volatile equity markets, interest-rate fluctuations, poor credit conditions, bond defaults and asset write-downs.
• CFOs see enterprise risk management as a core element of the solution to their regulatory issues, but they recognize that implementation has its challenges.

For more information on the survey results, click here.