William Russell is reducing international private medical insurance (IPMI) product base premiums in Africa, Europe and some of South East Asia, but increasing rates in the Far East, Oceania, South America and the Middle East.
It is also taking “corrective action” in a few countries, removing its lifetime discount for new business and is preparing to launch a critical illness (CI) product into its global protection proposition.
Marketing director William Cooper said the provider would be far more competitive on premiums than it has been in 2024, with some existing individual policyholders expected to enjoy a lower premium at their 2025 renewal, while base premiums for the firm’s protection products will remain unchanged.
The changes include:
- Reduced base rates for new and renewing policies by as much as 8% in Africa, Europe (excluding the UK) and South East Asia (excluding Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore)
- Increased base rates by 1% in the UK
- Increases of between 8-10% to base rates in Indonesia, the Far East, Oceania, South America and the Middle East
- Freezing the ‘fading discount’ at the percentage the policyholder enjoyed at renewal in 2024, meaning no further fading of the discount
- No change to base rates for protection products
Remove lifetime discount
The firm said that policyholders in most countries and regions would see a lower-than-average premium increase at renewal and some policyholders would even find a lower renewal premium in 2025.
It added it was taking corrective action on its base rates for Hong Kong, Mexico, Thailand, and Singapore and was also no longer offering a lifetime discount for new policies in those last three countries, though existing policies will retain their discounts.
Explaining the reasoning for the changes, Cooper described 2024 as a tough year for the entire IPMI market, but said there were some “green shoots” for William Russell.
“We want to develop those green shoots in 2025, with competitive premiums in the countries and regions where we want to grow our portfolio,” Cooper said.
“In particular, we want to grow our portfolio of individual and SME customers requiring cover in the UK, Europe, South East Africa, and South East Asia.
“We worked closely with our insurer to make this happen from a product perspective, and we’ve strengthened our business development team to support distribution.”
Cooper added that the provider had “taken corrective action in a handful of countries”.
“We were somewhat under priced in Mexico in 2023 and 2024, so we’ve made a significant correction there,” he continued.
“Our base rate increases in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Singapore are in line with the market, and renewing policyholders in those locations can expect reasonable premium increases.
“We have, however, removed the lifetime discount for new policies in these countries, compounding the base rate increases. Existing policies will retain their lifetime discounts.”
Targeting SME businesses
Inez Cooper, managing director at William Russell, said: “As part of our strategy for 2025, we will be targeting SME businesses, and we expect to be highly competitive in terms of price, benefits, and service.
“Another advantage is that we are able to offer life, accident, and long-term disability cover to SMEs, and soon critical illness.
“These are often difficult benefits to place in the international market, but where we can offer health cover, we can also offer a complete package of employee benefits.”
Teresa Wighton, commercial director at William Russell, added: “We are delighted that we have been able to keep increases to a minimum and in some cases reduce our rates this year.”
Wighton added: “There are still challenges in some parts of the world where medical inflation continues to present challenges and we will work closely with our customers and brokers to keep these to a minimum or explore different product or excess options to ensure their cover remains affordable.”
