After dire predictions, the insurance industry has so far held up relatively well amid the financial maelstrom.

“It was a good thing we had the 2000-2003 crisis. ­Insurers, particularly in Europe, were tested by that. I am sure we would not have a credit crisis to the extent that we are seeing today if the ­banking system had been really tested five to six years ago,” says Thomas Hess, chief economist at Swiss Re.