Nothing Like Death
Congratulations, you have made it to November, almost. Tomorrow is Halloween, and a blue moon night to boot. Seems like the scariest day of the scariest year (ever!) is only getting scarier. And there’s blood on the streets, at least metaphorically, given the massive sell-offs in the US benchmarks. Even Nifty was not immune seeing cuts of 300 points this week. These markets may bleed in the near term, but is the bull-run dying? Monitor the Puts OI.
My ever-vigilant trader Ketan quotes from the NSE filings post monthly expiry: “FII rolled 90% of net puts into Nov expiry. FIIs also entered this new expiry with Net Short on Index Futures which they were net long in the whole of October.” Oops…
Nothing like Death to Sell Insurance.
That pithy is certainly true, especially for life insurance. Death, or the fear of dying, is tangible. It is also THE BIGGEST incentive for people to take out life insurance. SARS was the single largest event-driven trigger for the rise in the sale of health insurance in China and South- East Asia in recent times. In the months between May and August of 2003, when SARS abated, health insurance premia in China recorded triple-digit YoY growth. Moreover, much of the 25%cagr in premium growth of life insurers in developing Asia has come after 2003. Especially the China Life Insurance Company saw a 40% cagr in short term life insurance premium growth. Even the MERS pandemic in the Middle East in 2013, led to BUPA Arabia clocking 81% YY growth in the subsequent year.
Udit tells India Etc. that life insurance is a PUSH product. No one wakes up with a view of buying insurance. It’s not like it’s an iPhone (just joking Tim Apple). Life Insurance (LI) needs heavy advertisement and marketing. And there is no bigger incentive than coming face to face with one’s sense of mortality. Furthermore, there is a saying within the life insurance circles. LI comes shortly after factories and real estate — to say that LI tags along with an upwardly mobile society. Can COVID jump-start India’s well penetrated but poorly under-protected LI segment? Click here to find out.
Sticking on to the theme of scary stories, an explosive story of systematic discrimination based on caste is emerging in, of all places, Silicon Valley. Also, a Sleeping Giant awakens in the Arctic as we write this. And we haven’t even mentioned the US Presidential polls — going by opinion polls, at least one candidate will be very scared.
Anyways, if and on the slimmest of chances, I get invited to a Halloween Party, I have decided to go as “The Year 2020”.
