Reinsurance News

California Earthquake Authority

False earthquake policy info prompts California regulators to notify insurers

12th July 2019

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) are to send a notice to re/insurers following reports that some companies may be declining to write earthquake policies in the state. Kern County in southern California was struck by a magnitude 6.4 earthquake on July 4, followed by a ... Read the full article

Cali quake losses expected to be insignificant, damage less than initially feared

8th July 2019

Analysts at Credit Suisse expect the insurance industry loss from the recent earthquakes that struck Southern California to be less than $500 million, with emergency officials reportedly stating that the damage is less considerable than initially feared. The Ridgecrest City area of the state was hit by a magnitude 6.4 quake ... Read the full article

Strongest earthquake in 20 years hits southern California

5th July 2019

California experienced its strongest earthquake in two decades on Thursday after a magnitude 6.4 quake struck near the town of Ridgecrest in Kern County. There are reports of “significant damage” to the city, which is home to nearly 30,000 people, with cracked roads, felled power lines, and broken walls and windows ... Read the full article

Hayward quake scenario warns of $170bn damages to San Francisco area

23rd April 2018

Property analytics company CoreLogic has assessed the financial implications of the HayWired earthquake scenario, a study that modelled the impact of a hypothetical magnitude 7.0 earthquake along the Hayward fault, finding that property damage could total US $170 billion – most of which would be uninsured. The Haywired scenario calculated the ... Read the full article

California Earthquake Authority’s reinsurance programme exceeds $8bn

16th March 2018

The California Earthquake Authority’s (CEA) reinsurance programme has reached a new high, surpassing $8 billion after the January 1st, 2018 renewals, a figure expected to grow to $10 billion by 2022. The CEA’s reinsurance programme has quadrupled since 1997 when it provided just $2.1 billion of cover, in the following two ... Read the full article

California Earthquake Authority demand for reinsurance grows as insurance sales boom

2nd August 2017

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) has increased its capacity by over $15 billion after seeing a continued trend of major increases to earthquake insurance sales that began last year, when the CEA's policies in force grew by over seven times the 10 year average gain to 52,000. As the CEA ensures its sufficiently capitalised ... Read the full article

CEA to put Lloyd’s syndicates on level playing field for reinsurance renewals

13th March 2017

The California Earthquake Authority (CEA), the main earthquake insurance provider in the State of California, is set to put Lloyd's of London syndicates on a level playing field for its future reinsurance renewals. The CEA has a strict set of guidelines for acquiring risk transfer and reinsurance, which see different providers ... Read the full article