More life businesses than general insurance starting up

More life insurance businesses are starting up than general insurance (GI) businesses, according to analysis by Policy Expert, the digital home insurer.

Policy Expert found that 256 new life insurance businesses have registered to date in 2019, 31 percent more than in GI. According to Policy Expert’s findings, 2019 ventures account for just 3 percent of the non-life sector as new business creation focuses on life enterprises.

A total of 256 new life insurance businesses were registered with Companies House in the first eight months of the year, about 9 percent of the total 2,884 active businesses in the life market.

In contrast, 195 GI start-ups were registered between January and August, despite the total market being almost twice the size, with 5,703 active firms registered.

However, Policy Expert’s analysis also highlights the challenging operating conditions in today’s market. Over the last year, there has been a 28 percent drop in the number of insurance businesses incorporated in 2017 that are still active – falling from 467 last summer to 338.

Adam Powell, co-founder and chief operating officer of Policy Expert, said: “The insurance start-up market continues to grow in 2019 with life insurance new business ventures outnumbering their non-life counterparts by almost a third.

“The founders of these new ventures need be optimistic, but realistic about their future prospects. Establishing an insurance start-up is a completely different prospect to scaling it into a fully-fledged business that becomes a permanent fixture in the landscape. While 2019 has seen plenty of new ventures come to market, it has also witnessed the failure of some high-profile names in the insurtech world.”

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