The number of people collectively employed by mutual and cooperative insurers worldwide has increased to 1.11 million, according to a new report.
The latest ICMIF report revealed that the global cooperative and mutual insurance sector has created 190,000 new jobs as of 2014, a 20% increase from the 0.92 million jobs since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2007.
ICMIF CEO Shaun Tarbuck said the mutual insurance sector is outperforming the stock sector and is increasing its job opportunities each year.
“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,” he said.
By region, the European mutual sector employed more than 450,000 people in 2014, representing 41% of the global total. More than 35% or 390,000 employees were in North America.
By country, the US, Japanese and French mutual sectors were the largest employers, with more than 720,000 jobs or almost two-thirds of the global total located in these three markets alone.
According to the report, the UK was the sixth largest market in terms of number of people employed by mutual insurers at 25,706. It was also the seventh largest mutual market in terms of asset value.
In 2014, there were 81 mutual insurers and 29.5 million policyholders in the UK market, which posted an 8.3% growth in that year.
Mutual and cooperative insurers reported record aggregate premiums volumes for the seventh consecutive year in 2014, writing USD 1.3 trillion in insurance premiums. The sector’s global market share also increased to 27.0% in the same year.
Tarbuck said the mutual and cooperative insurance sector, which provides cover for almost a billion people, has 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,” Tarbuck said.
