b'Mergers & Acquisitions | Property-Casualty SectorNorth America and BermudaThe onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020 created tremendous uncer-tainty regarding all aspects of the business of insurance. This resulted in a virtual halt in insurance carrier property-casualty (P&C) transactions in the US and Bermuda as insurers and investors evaluated their strategic plans to consider the new environment for commercial, specialty and personal lines insurance. As the contours of the health crisis and the related economic fallout became clearer, a surge in industry M&A from the third quarter of 2020 onwards resulted in deal-making in 2020 exceeding that for 2019 in terms of both quantum and value. Arguably the most impactful insurance industry deal announced in 2020 was in the broker space, namely the proposed merger of Aon plc (Aon) and Willis Towers Watson (Willis) to create a combined brokerage with an implied equity value of approximately $80 billion. [See Property-Casualty SectorUK and Europe]. In December 2020, it was announced that the European Commission will launch a full-scale competition investigation into the proposed merger. That review is expected to last well into the second quarter of 2021. The Commissions initial market investigation identified a number of concerns in relation to the supply of commercial brokerage services especially to large multi-national customers, who depend on brokers with a high level of expertise and a global presence.Personal Auto P&C Lines Adjust to the New MarketplaceThe personal lines P&C market has been noticeably altered in recent years by significant new market entrants. As discussed in Technology - Insurtech, 2020 saw the public listing of two direct-to-consumer P&C insurtechs on US exchangesLemonade and Rootand the announcement that Metromile, Inc. (Metromile), a pay-per-mile insurtech, would become a public company by merging with a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). [See SPACs].The personal auto insurance market, in particular, has been transformed by the increasing use of the telematics technology that Root and Metromile have been instrumental in introducing. Separately, the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the growth of shared driving services has resulted in fewer auto policies being sold, and at the same time with drivers driving less result-ing in fewer claims, companies have been pressured and in certain states mandated to rebate premiums. [See Insurance RegulatoryUS/NAIC - Insurance After the COVID-19 Pandemic]. In July 2020, The Allstate Corporation (Allstate) announced the acquisition of National General Holdings Corporation in an all-cash deal totalling $4 billion. It is anticipated that Allstates acquisition should help shore up revenue growth and expand Allstates reach 6GLOBAL INSURANCE INDUSTRY | YEAR IN REVIEW2020'