欧洲市场健康保险和健康主题背景下的ESG评级

ESGratingsin the context ofhealthinsuranceand healthtopicsin the European market Ida BindeaLaura Witting, actuary AVÖ Environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG)ratings describethe impact of environmental, social and governance factors on acompany’s financial stability.Inthe last years a very heterogeneous marketon ESG ratings has developed and around 60 providersoperatingintheEuropean marketset theiremphaseson different aspects,such asthecommitment of companies to sustainability issuesthatcan be measuredaswell as theeffectivenessofESG risk managementandthe companies’adverse impacts on the environmentorsociety.Commonelements thatimpact the rating can be identified.An analysis of the main ratingproviders shows thathealth-relatedissues aregrowingmoreimportantfor the rating process,and atthe same time, the rating evaluation canalsoaffectthe financial stability of health insurers.This paper describesthe main drivers of an ESG rating for health insurers as well as theeffectsof health components on the overall rating of companiesingeneral, regardlessofthe industry they are operating in. Introduction In the context of increasing regulatory requirements and of growing awarenessforsustainabledevelopment, companies are facingthe challenge of integrating andformalisingactions to manage ESGrisks that impact their business. The new regulations within the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) which came into force on 2 August2022bring new requirements regarding sustainability criteria for insurance productson the EU market.According tothe new rules, insurers must quantify how far their productssatisfy sustainability criteria.They must alsobe ableto consider the sustainability preferences of their customers on the asset side. A recent studyofthe German market(1)shows thatindividualinvestors withstrongsustainability preferencesrepresentatarget group with higher incomes, as well as a better awareness of risksinthe stock market.This27% of the population, generally in the agerangeof 30to44,are simultaneously the oneswhohavebettereducationandbetter access todiversifiedinformation sources.Theytend totake into consideration variousprevention benefits, as well as health insurance products.Thus, they represent a customer base thatiswilling toinvest in more comprehensivehealth insuranceproducts,and alsoinproducts that improve theirqualityof life.These customers are alsocharacterisedbya lower probability for preexisting medical disorders,potentiallyleading to alowerportfolioriskfor the insurer. This result isconfirmed by aseparatestudy oftheRobert Koch-Institut, Germanyon socialdifferences in mortality and life expectancy in Germany(2), whichsupportstheconclusion thatsocioeconomic status is highly correlatedwiththe exposure to chronic diseases as well as thegeneral health status of a person. Ifhealth insurers are not able tomeetthe sustainabilitycriteriathat their customers are seeking,theymayperform badly in terms of ESG ratings, whichmightresult inreputational damage.Thiscouldhypotheticallyleadtolower customerconfidence and,consequently, toan increasedrisk of losinghealthier customers,resulting in ashift from “good” to “bad” risks. Inthe long runthiscouldleadto lower financial stability.Therefore,in this paperwealsoanalysethe way thatmain credit rating providersincorporate ESG factors intotheir ratingprocess. BecauseESG ratings provide comparability of companies with respect to sustainability issues, they can have animportant impact on the reputation of insurers and serve as a selection tool for customers with a strongsustainability awareness.Because of this,companiesmayseektoimprovetheirESG ratingsin order toavoidlosingimportant customersandtoattractnew business. Another aspect that weanalysein this paper is the connectionamonghealth benefits, health-related issues andtheESG ratingsof companiesregardlessoftheirindustry. The World Economic Forum suggestsintegratinghealthequityinto the ESG framework,becausethe health of our society is connected totheeconomy(3).Researchfrom theErasmusUniversity MedicalCentreof Rotterdam has shown that inequality in health reduceslabourproductivity andreducesgross domestic product (GDP)by 1.4%each year(4).In addition, the recentpandemic hasunderlinedthat economicperformance depends onthehealthof the population.Various health-related issues can beintegratedintoacompany’sproducts, employeebenefitsor healthcarestrategyto beassessed by ESG rating providers.The impact of these issues can be derived from theratingmethodologiesofthe biggest providers and give insightinto howESG ratings can be improved by investing in health-relatedareas.In this context, health benefits and company health insurance proveto be growing business areas, leading to asignificantpotential forreputation improvement. Thispaperstarts witha brief description of the rating methodologies of the main providers focussedon health-relatedelements.Next,weanalysewhich rating components have a significant impact on the rati