New statistics from ICMIF’s Global Mutual Market Share report confirm that the number of people collectively employed by mutual and cooperative insurers around the world is now 1.11 million, an increase of 20% since 2007. That equates to 190,000 new jobs created since 2007 (2007: 0.92 million people employed).
Global mutual and cooperative market share
2014 was another year of strong financial performance for the mutual and cooperative insurance sector. At a global level, mutual and cooperative insurers reported record aggregate premiums volumes for the seventh consecutive year in 2014, writing USD 1.3 trillion in insurance premiums. Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007, mutual and cooperative insurers have grown their premium income by 30% (2007 to 2014), whilst the total insurance market only grew by 13.6% during the same period. As a result, the global market share of the mutual/cooperative sector increased from 23.7% in 2007 to 27.0% in 2014.
Regional highlights
The European mutual sector employed just over 450,000 people in 2014, representing 41% of the global total (see Figure 41); just over 35% (390,000 people) were employed in North America. In terms of growth, North America saw the strongest increase from the previous year (+4.6%), with more moderate growth in the European mutual market (+1.6%). The US, Japanese and French mutual sectors were the largest employers, with almost two-thirds of the global total located in these three markets alone. Asia and Oceania maintained similar employment levels in 2014 compared to 2013, with around 20% (216,000 people) of the total mutual sector’s employees. Latin American mutuals employed more than 44,000 people in 2014 (2013: 43,950) and African mutuals had just under 10,000 employees (2013: 8,757).
Shaun Tarbuck, CEO of ICMIF, said: “The mutual and cooperative insurance sector has for many years, played a significant socio-economic role throughout the world.
“Our values-based insurance model now covers almost a billion lives - 25 million more than 2013. We are driven by our members’ needs and, on average, we’re charging lower premiums which in turn is influencing the pricing for the total market.
“From a potential employee perspective, the values-based behaviours found in the mutual and cooperative sector are proving attractive because more and more of the sector’s top talent want to work for organizations with a strong sense of social purpose and a long-term ethos. Our sector is outperforming the stock sector and each year is increasing its job opportunities.”
Download the full Global Mutual Market Share report here.
See also the Good to People, Good for Business Strategic InSights paper in which ICMIF examines the rationale for investing in employee programmes which go above and beyond regulatory or legal requirements. The paper also considers the current socio-economic challenges facing businesses which are striving to become “employers of choice”, and presents a snapshot of how cooperative/mutual insurers are differentiating themselves from their private, shareholder-owned competitors based upon their principles.
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