Reports recently conducted for AILO by Acuity Corporate Consulting have revealed that an estimated £68bn of new investment-linked cross-border life premiums were written globally in 2021.

This compares to £58bn in 2020 representing an increase of 17.2% and a welcome return to pre-pandemic levels.

Acuity compiled two reports which are available exclusively to our Members; one on the European cross-border life market, the other on the global market.

Data from 2021 also reveals some changes within the seven regions covered by the survey.

Europe, excluding the UK, remains the leading region at 66.1%, up from 58.2% in 2020. North America saw its share fall to 12.5% from 14.2% in 2020. Asia-Pacific fell significantly for the second year running to 3.5%, down from 11.5% in 2020. Meanwhile the UK saw an increase in its global share from 9.4% to 11.1% to make it the third ranked region.

The Middle East region increased its share to 5.4% in 2021, up from 5.2% in 2020 although Latin America (1.1% share) and Africa (0.3% share) remain the smallest sales regions.

The sector continues to be dominated by European sources of business with Europe, including the UK, responsible for 77.2% of global cross-border life business in 2021, up from its 2020 share of 67.6%.

The new business figure recorded for Europe, excluding the UK, covers a total of 50 markets, but Italy, France and Germany accounted for 74% of the total premiums written, down from 75% in 2020. Sweden, Belgium and Portugal followed by Spain and Switzerland lag some distance behind.

The total global new premium figure of £68bn equates to 2.9% of total new worldwide life premiums in 2021, up from 2.5% in 2020, and 10.6% of total new life premiums in the advanced markets of Europe (6.0% in 2020) as measured by Swiss Re. The global cross-border life market in 2021 was only 12% smaller than the domestic life market in Germany, the seventh ranked life market globally and the nearest domestic life market size comparison. 

Simon Willoughby of Acuity Corporate Consulting, said: "This is the fourth year that Acuity has undertaken this survey. It aims to provide some context for AILO Members regarding the relative size of their businesses globally by applying a common definition of investment-linked cross-border life business across all regions.

However, differences in reporting formats and the availability of some data dictates that the total figure represents a best estimate. Nevertheless, at both a global and regional level AILO members benefit greatly from the management information these reports provide."