Phillips Fox partner Michael Gill reflects on a year of upheaval in the insurance and financial services industry and considers directions in the coming year for a no-longer complacent industry.
2001 was the year when risk came storming back!
For much of the second half of the 20th century, succeeding generations increasingly convinced themselves that risk was avoidable or manageable and that security could almost be taken for granted. Although, according to some, life was not meant to be easy, it was certainly feeling pretty easy! A major factor in the protection of life and assets was the role of the insurance and reinsurance industries, which seemed capable of measuring and insuring just about any risk. It did so for a price that was within the reach of most people and businesses, and provided the protection through ever broadening wordings and despite increasing law suits and liabilities.
