Reinsurance News
Q1 results to see lighter catastrophe load, auto frequency benefits: MS
20th April 2020
Analysts at Morgan Stanley have lowered catastrophe loss estimates for both U.S. primary insurers and reinsurers ahead of Q1 2020 results season, driven in part by lower-than-expected U.S. spring storm activity. Unsurprisingly, the focus of first-quarter 2020 results is expected to be the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, but a reduction in ... Read the full article
AM Best forecasts hit to insurer capital from equity exposures
20th April 2020
AM Best has predicted that re/insurers could see their capital and surplus hit as a result of sharp equity market declines caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The rating agency added that surplus losses could exceed those experience in the 2008 to 2009 financial crisis. Analysts observed that the 20% decline in ... Read the full article
Denis Kessler cautions against pandemic insurance scheme
20th April 2020
SCOR CEO Denis Kessler has cautioned against the introduction of a pandemic insurance scheme to mutualise operating losses for businesses, while acknowledging that the crisis could “change the course of history.” Speaking in an interview with Le Point, Kessler questioned the advisability and feasibility of relying on systems that mutualise business ... Read the full article
QBE commits AUD 2.6mn to global COVID-19 response effort
20th April 2020
QBE Insurance Group Limited has announced AUD 2.6 million (approx. USD 1.7mn) in direct funding to support the global response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The insurer states that these funds will be disbursed via the QBE Foundation's existing global charity and not-for-profit partners, designed to help agencies experiencing greater demand ... Read the full article
Swiss Re cancels share buyback programme, adds three to Board
20th April 2020
Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re has confirmed that its authorised new public share buyback programme of up to CHF 1 million (USD 1.03mn) will not be launched due to current financial market volatility being driven by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Following commentary from analysts that the Switzerland-based reinsurer's share buyback programme ... Read the full article
Minimal/moderate industry impact from COVID-19: David Flandro
20th April 2020
Speaking on a recent call to Morgan Stanley, David Flandro stated a belief that, in the absence of government intervention, COVID-19 will have a minimal/moderate impact on losses for the re/insurance industry. Flandro, Managing Director of Analytics at Hyperion X, noted how there is no evidence the impact from the pandemic ... Read the full article
COVID-19 to compound South Korea’s life insurance woes: GlobalData
20th April 2020
South Korea’s life insurance market is set to decline by 1.2% in 2020, as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic compounding pre-existing pressure from stagnating sales, according to GlobalData analysis. Deblina Mitra, an insurance analyst at GlobalData, explained that lockdown restrictions due to coronavirus will further prevent new sales through insurance agents and, ... Read the full article
CyberCube accounts for new threat trends in risk model update
20th April 2020
Cyber risk analytics firm CyberCube has released an updated version of its cyber risk modelling platform, Portfolio Manager, that accounts for new trends in cyber threats. Since the model was first launched in 2018, CyberCube notes that there has been an increase in the reliance on the cloud across most industries, ... Read the full article
Covid-19 shows sensitivity of re/insurers to equity market volatility: Willis Re
17th April 2020
The global reinsurance capital base is expected to take a hit of approximately 5% from the financial impacts of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, reports Willis Re, the reinsurance arm of global brokerage Willis Towers Watson (WTW). The reinsurance broker's Strategic and Financial Analytics teams' 5% estimate is a marked improvement on ... Read the full article
Increased litigation levels to emerge from COVID-19: Analysts
17th April 2020
Analysts at Morgan Stanley have predicted that increased litigation levels will emerge from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its accompanying economic downturn. Jonathan Molot, Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Burford Capital, confirmed to Morgan Stanley that his firm is currently seeing significant growth in the potential demand for litigation financing ... Read the full article
World Bank’s pandemic bonds & swaps to pay out almost $196m on COVID-19
17th April 2020
The pandemic catastrophe bonds and pandemic risk-linked swaps issued by the World Bank have now been triggered by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak and will pay out USD 195.84 million, as first reported by our sister publication Artemis. Issued in July 2017 to provide financial backing and insurance protection to the ... Read the full article
Cost of severe US weather outbreak could surpass $1bn: Aon
17th April 2020
A number of southern and eastern US states were hit with a prolific severe weather outbreak between April 10 and 14, according to the latest catastrophe report from Aon. At least 41 people were killed and hundreds more injured by an outbreak which prompted a minimum of 121 confirmed tornado touchdowns ... Read the full article
The Woodlands Insurance to acquire Gulfstream’s Texas homeowner book
17th April 2020
The Woodlands Insurance Company (TWICO) has completed a renewal rights agreement with Gulfstream Property & Casualty Insurance Company to acquire the company's book of homeowner business in Texas. Under the transaction, approximately $4 million of in-force gross written premium will be transferred to TWICO, which will start offering renewal terms for ... Read the full article
South Carolina & Pennsylvania join push for COVID-19 legislation
17th April 2020
South Carolina and Pennsylvania have joined several other US states in pushing for legislation that would require insurers to retroactively cover business interruption losses related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. At the same time, New York has expanded the scope of its previously proposed legislation, while New Jersey has ordered insurers ... Read the full article
PartnerRe expects long-term commitment from Covéa, says CEO Clarke
17th April 2020
Emmanuel Clarke, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bermudian reinsurer PartnerRe, has said that the recently announced acquisition by Covéa is “a very good strategic fit” for the company. Speaking in an interview with Reinsurance News, Clarke explained that PartnerRe views Covéa as “a long-term committed owner” with a long-term strategic interest ... Read the full article
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