Reinsurance News
Coronavirus news
Coronavirus news coverage of relevance to reinsurance and insurance markets.
All of our Covid-19 coronavirus news, analysis and insight related to insurance and reinsurance market impacts can be found below.
The coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic of 2019-20 resulted in significant disruption and threatened losses widely across the insurance and reinsurance markets.
Reinsurer earnings recover after Q1 volatility: DBRS Morningstar
22nd September 2020
The half-year results of property and casualty (P&C) reinsurers show that most firms have recovered from the effects of the financial market volatility that followed global lockdown measures in Q1, according to analysts at DBRS Morningstar. DBRS’ review of H1 results shows that most large reinsurers reported positive net earnings for ... Read the full article
Beazley doubles COVID-19 claims cost to $340mn
22nd September 2020
Specialty insurer Beazley has increased its estimated cost of COVID-19 claims from $170 million to $340 million. The claims are from Beazley's first party business and almost exclusively driven by further event cancellation losses. Given the recent surge in COVID-19 cases Beazley was forced to abandon its initial $170 million estimate, which ... Read the full article
AM Best forecasts downturn in Caribbean insurance growth
22nd September 2020
AM Best has forecast that Caribbean property and casualty (P&C) insurers could see a reversal of their recent positive growth trends due to the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with rising reinsurance rates. The rating agency noted that the coronavirus crisis has been “a catastrophe for the entire Caribbean ... Read the full article
Indian regulator considers pandemic risk pool
22nd September 2020
India's re/nsurance sector regulator, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI), has suggested setting up a pandemic risk pool with a Rs 75,000 crore (USD 10.2 billion) backstop guarantee from the government. This is currently in the initial stages, with a view to help MSME workers and migrant labourers facing loss ... Read the full article
FCA sets out expectations for insurers following BI test case ruling
21st September 2020
The UK Financial Conduct Authority has described the UK High Court's recent Business Interruption test case judgment as having brought greater clarity for all parties and urged insurers, irrespective of any possible appeals, to consider the steps they can take to progress and pay any relevant claims. The financial regulator ... Read the full article
Law firm considering action against twelve insurers after High Court BI win
21st September 2020
Mishcon de Reya, the law firm that represented the Hiscox Action Group, could persue legal action against twelve new insurers following its Business Interruption insurance victory in the UK High Court. Based on the sample of policy wordings presented by the FCA, the court decided that most, but not ... Read the full article
COVID-19 rate cuts worsening “often-forgotten” casualty lines catastrophe: JMP
18th September 2020
Analysts at JMP Securities have underlined how risk-free rates have stabilised following emergency COVID-19 rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve, elongating and worsening an "often-forgotten" casualty lines catastrophe. Analysts believe the Fed's recent emergency rate cuts and ensuing interest rate volatility has investors re-examining their expectations for the future direction ... Read the full article
FCA’s test case ruling irrelevant to current US BI litigation: FAIR
18th September 2020
The U.K. High Court has issued a ruling concerning the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) test case on pandemic-related business interruption claims against 21 representative policies issued by 8 insurers. Although the ruling has provided UK insurers and policyholders with more clarity, the FAIR campaign does not believe that the verdict will ... Read the full article
Fitch removes Lloyd’s from Rating Watch Negative as underwriting improves
18th September 2020
Fitch Ratings has removed Lloyd's of London's, Lloyd's Insurance Company (China) Ltd.'s, and Lloyd's Insurance Company S.A.'s Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) Ratings from Rating Watch Negative (RWN). At the same time, Fitch has affirmed Lloyd's and its two operating subsidiaries' IFS Ratings at 'AA-' (very strong), while the outlook is stable. At ... Read the full article
Remote working triggers rise in phishing attacks over Q2: Beazley
18th September 2020
The growing reliance on remote working due to the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a rise in phishing and social engineering scams over Q2, according to specialist re/insurer Beazley. These kinds of email attacks had been on the decline from Q4 2019 to Q1 2020, but the arrival of the global pandemic ... Read the full article
Marine market sees modest recovery but future uncertain: IUMI
18th September 2020
The International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) has noted a modest recovery in the marine re/insurance market during the 2019 underwriting year, but warns that the future of the market remains uncertain due to the COVID-19 pandemic. IUMI estimates that marine underwriting premiums totalled $28.7 billion in 2019, representing a 0.9% ... Read the full article
Industry viewed pandemic risk through too narrow a prism: SCOR’s Kessler
17th September 2020
For the most part, pandemic had historically been viewed as a life catastrophe exposure, but the COVID-19 outbreak has shone a light on the potential impacts of a pandemic on the global property & casualty (P&C) sector. In a keynote held this morning as part of insurer and reinsurer SCOR's virtual ... Read the full article
Remote working to have lasting consequences for re/insurers: GlobalData
17th September 2020
Data and analytics company GlobalData believes that the increase in remote working due to the COVID-19 pandemic will have lasting consequences for the insurance and reinsurance industries. With remote working levels set to stay significantly higher than before the coronavirus crisis, /reinsurers will need to adapt to remote working being more ... Read the full article
Compre eyeing capital raise off COVID-19, market hardening
16th September 2020
Leading specialist legacy acquirer Compre is looking to raise additional capital in the face of increased legacy activity related to the COVID-19 pandemic and hardening insurance market. Compre says its current shareholders, private-equity firm CBPE Capital, remain committed to the business and support its management team's outlook. The existing team, led by CEO ... Read the full article
Covéa and Swiss Re reported on verge of arbitration over COVID-19 BI claims
16th September 2020
According to reports in the French press, insurer Covéa is set to launch an arbitration with its reinsurer, Swiss Re, concerning COVID-19-related business interruption (BI) losses of at least €500 million. Reports state that both Covéa and Swiss Re are in the process of selecting their arbitrators as tensions between insurers ... Read the full article
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