Swiss Re's predicts growth in the insurance and reinsurance industry will continue to accelerate next year and expects moderate expansion in the European and US economies.
The reinsurer's outlook for the UK life and health insurance industry is positive having recovered from the financial crisis but shows signs of slower growth than in 2010.
It further noted there were many economic risks, such as the debt crisis currently affecting some eurozone countries, but suggested they were unlikely to derail the recovery with only a 10% probability of doing so.
And it anticipates booming emerging market economies to dominate the global marketplace.
Figures produced by Swiss Re for its annual review of the insurance and reinsurance sectors show that it expects life and health new business premiums in the UK to grow by 4.4% in 2010, significantly up on falls of 20.4% and 28.9% in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
However, this growth is expected to level off at 2.5% and 3.6% in 2011 and 2012.
A similar trend is predicted for in-force premiums with a 6.7% increase for 2010 anticipated as a recovery from 31.9% and 11.3% reductions in the two previous years.
Again growth is forecast to step down to 2.7% and then 3.7% in 2011 and 2012.
Speaking at its Economic Forum, Thomas Hess, chief economist at Swiss Re, noted both life and non-life insurance had recovered from the crisis, that premiums were growing again and capital has been rebuilt to pre-crisis levels.
"Life insurance is back to growth and that's a very positive thing," he said.
"We forecast the economy will continue to recover but not as fast as some politicians will want it to. This will increase demand for life insurance.
"The mortality basis in the UK and USA is a weak spot and we expect quite a slow growth," he added.
Hess also took the chance to have a swipe at the incoming Solvency II regulations which he believed, while not hurting reinsurers directly, would harm the insurance market itself.
"The reinsurance industry is not so negative about Solvency II, but we are only on a long term industry view," he continued.
"Designating insurers as Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs) would increase reporting and capital costs. Ultimately, the extra regulation will result in higher rates for policyholders and so less insurance in the economy.
"This is ironic because insurance business was not the real problem in crisis," Hess concluded.
Commenting on the overall global economic picture, Kurt Karl, Chief US Economist at Swiss Re, said: "The global economy expanded modestly in 2010 and is expected to show moderate growth through 2011.
"Developed and emerging markets have parted ways on growth, with emerging markets booming while developed economies are growing at a more modest pace - a situation that is set to continue in 2011 and 2012.
"Monetary policy in the major economies is not expected to tighten substantially next year, because inflationary pressures remain subdued and certain EU economies face fiscal crises," he added.
The reinsurer has a good record with its predictions as last year's turned out to be slightly pessimistic as the global economy developed better than expected while interest rates dropped marginally lower than forecast.
