Big life insurers may hold information technology spending relatively steady in 2009, despite all of the economic turmoil.
Analysts at Datamonitor, London, and Novarica, New York, give that assessment in new reports.
When Datamonitor surveyed 200 “global insurers” in the first half of 2008, 47% of the participating life insurers said they were planning to increase investments in risk management and compliance systems in 2009, and 50% said they were planning to increase investments in online sales and servicing systems, the firm says.
Overall, “IT budgets should be more stable than those in the banking sector, with neither robust spending [nor] dramatic budget cuts likely to materialize,” Datamonitor says.
Some insurers will be looking for outsourcing partners with compliance expertise, but only if the outsourcing partners can deliver a smooth transition and good service, Datamonitor says.