Speaking ahead of the inaugural International Forum of Terrorism Risk Pools’ (IFTRIP) conference, held in Paris on June 28th, 2017, Pool Re Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Julian Enoizi said that as the first formal collaboration event between the world’s terrorism re/insurance entities it would be a defining moment for national terrorism pools.
For terrorism re/insurers, cyber terrorism, investigating how far-reaching damage caused via remote digital interference, and non-damage to business attacks could be, are key areas of interest for collaborative efforts.
The role of state pools, the terror risk insurance gap, how you fill a market if the market isn’t going to write the risk itself, are also issues blighting both re/insurers and heads of state.
Solutions could lie in greater collaboration between public and private market players with vested interests in terror protection, explained Enoizi; “Collaboration between national terrorism pools represents a new departure which offers the potential to alter how the insurance industry protects against, and responds to, acts of terrorism across the globe.”
Threats currently often compensated for by governments could be insurable perils that would ease the strain on state balance sheets by being passed onto private markets, Enoizi said, referring to the impact of the topical threats of climate change, mass migration, and pandemics.
The Pool Re CEO pointed to the possibility for a risk-sharing solution for terror insurance; “Is there a possibility for a risk-sharing solution? With prevalence of ILS, is there a possibility for terrorism pools to come together and actually purchase ILS from the capital markets in common, now that’s a big leap and it requires all sorts of types of collaboration, but why not?”
IFTRIP launched last year with the aim of promoting greater collaboration between global terrorism insurers and reinsurers and addressing the increasingly global nature of the terror threat.
Francois Vilnet, Vice President (VP) of the French market terrorism pool, GAREAT, is the current President of IFTRIP, a position which all members will take a turn in filling on a rotating annual basis.
