More mergers likely: PWC

Its report on the future of insurance M&A says there is a pick-up in global insurance premiums forecast but insurers were facing a range of obstacles, including regulation, low investment yields and overcapacity in some markets.

Insurers would likely respond with M&A activity, particularly where it enabled them to better capitalise on improvements in technology.

M&A activity has slowed nationwide since 2008 and has generally been less in the growing Asia Pacific region, except in 2011.

New Zealand PWC partner David Lamb said there had been a recent lift in merger activity in this country and he expected that to continue as insurers worked towards greater scale.