James Finucane, Senior Economist Reinsurance company Swiss Re
James Finucane is a Senior Economist at Swiss Re, specializing in Group Economic and Sigma Research. He covers the Property & Casualty (P&C) and Life & Health (L&H) markets in the US and Canada. His responsibilities include producing industry analyses, forecasts, and quarterly newsletters, as well as co-authoring sigma reports and other publications.
Before joining Swiss Re, Finucane worked as an actuary at Travelers Insurance and Ernst & Young, and in economic policy at the Penn Wharton Budget Model. He holds a master’s degree from the Stockholm School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania.
Licenses & certifications: ACAS, Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society
The global economy is poised for further solid expansion. We forecast global real GDP growth at 2.8% in 2025 and 2.7% in 2026, roughly in line with 2024
U.S. property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry achieved its best underwriting performance in over 15 years in 2024. The industry has turned a corner
Life insurers’ risk appetite is returning rapidly as interest rates remain higher for longer. Stock insurers are regaining appetite for asset-intensive business
The low interest rate years were challenging for people trying to save for retirement. Low rates made savings products and life insurance less appealing
While life insurers’ exposures to illiquid assets have been rising, it does not necessarily lead to unmeasured risks. Private and illiquid credit cannot be traded or sold
The life insurance industry in 2024 looks very different to 15 years ago. Low interest rates from 2008 until the inflation surge after 2021 put huge strain on the traditional life
The surge in interest rates to 15-year highs significantly improves the outlook for life and annuity insurance. The life insurance industry today looks very different to 15 years ago
In the era of digital transformation, the insurance sector has observed a paradigm shift in the creation of value. Digital data, now form a significant part of the economic value
The global non-life insurance industry is adjusting rapidly to the new higher interest rate era ushered in by the most intense monetary policy tightening since the 1980s
The intensity and spread of inflation is sending insurance claims costs soaring. Strong rate hardening in commercial insurance lines and personal lines rates support topline growth
The natural disasters demonstrate that economic factors, in the last two years augmented by inflation, are the main driver of elevated insured losses from natural catastrophes
Natural disasters resulted in global economic losses of USD 275 billion, of which USD 125 billion were covered by insurance, the fourth highest one-year total
2024 will be a difficult year for the US P&C industry: claims severities surged with inflation, natural catastrophe losses were elevated for a sixth straight year
For insurers, the main inflation impact will show in rising claims costs, more in non-life than life insurance in which policy benefits are defined at inception
In response to uncertainty around cyber risk, insurance providers have become more selective in their underwriting through better risk selection, lower limits, cyber insurance
Risk management is the process of identifying, assessing and responding to/mitigating risk events. Organisations must understand the probability and potential severity of loss events