Weathering the Storm in Life and Pensions

There are conflicting views among wealth managers and economists, as well as in the media, about the extent and duration of sub-prime mortgage defaults and the resulting credit squeeze. Datamonitor predicts that the impact on financial services will be significant, and will last through 2009. We have produced a series of reports to identify the strategies to help them insulate their revenues.

Despite the fact that life companies will be less hard hit than other areas of the asset management industry complacency must be avoided. To many investors who do not understand the intricacies and variations in investment strategies, all institutions may be tarred with the same brush in the short term, despite differences in the long term. The results of a Datamonitor survey show that 34% of advisers surveyed are unconcerned by the possibility of a recession in 2008, despite the turmoil in global markets, huge losses by key financial institutions and the slowdown in house prices. However providers are relying on advisers to communicate their strategies to clients. The consensus in the market is that life companies should avoid spending large sums on developing new products, focusing instead on improved customer targeting, marketing and cross-selling the existing product range. It is about communication and consolidation rather than new product ranges.