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.
AXIS posts $54mn fall in Q2 income, COVID-19 claims provision unchanged
29th July 2020
Bermuda-based insurer and reinsurer AXIS Capital has posted a second quarter net income of $112 million, down from $166 million in the prior year quarter. Operating income for the quarter was $72 million, down significantly from $137 million in the prior year quarter. The company has also confirmed there is no change ... Read the full article
Lancashire’s H1 combined ratio jumps to 106.9%
29th July 2020
Specialty re/insurer Lancashire Holdings saw its combined ratio for the first half of 2020 jump to 106.9%, up from 86.6% in H1 2019. The group’s COVID-19 ultimate loss estimate, net of reinsurance and reinstatement premiums, amounted to approximately $42 million. This arose primarily from exposures within its property segment. Prior year unfavourable development ... Read the full article
Praedicat releases COVID-19 litigation tracker results
29th July 2020
Praedicat, a risk analytics and modelling company for casualty re/insurers and industrial firms, has released the initial results from its COVID-19 litigation tracker platform. The newly launched platform found that more than 200 casualty-relevant virus complaints have already been filed in the US courts. The complaints allege that corporate defendants are responsible ... Read the full article
Africa Re offers $3.3mn to support pandemic resistance
29th July 2020
Pan-African reinsurer Africa Re has announced that it will offer US $3.3 million in financial support to various governments and private institutions to help resist the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Managed by the Africa Re Foundation, the funds will aid awareness campaigns, preventive measures, acquisition of medical equipment and personal ... Read the full article
Rate momentum to continue into 2021, says Beazley CEO Horton
28th July 2020
Andrew Horton, the Chief Executive Officer of specialist insurer Beazley, anticipates the rate momentum seen over the first six months of 2020 to continue into next year and enable double digit top-line growth for the company. “We expect this momentum to continue into 2021 because there doesn't seem to be anything ... Read the full article
Aviva facing class action from Canadian hotel chains as BI tensions mount
28th July 2020
Global insurer Aviva is facing a class action lawsuit in Canada as a number of hotel groups look to enforce insurance policies covering business interruption or loss of income. Several hotel chains are affected, including Best Western, Home 2 by Hilton and Hampton Inn. This action applies to all hotels who were insured ... Read the full article
Cyber policy sales up 340% amid COVID-19: SchemeServe
28th July 2020
Cyber policy sales have increased by almost three and a half times during the COVID-19 lockdown, according to SchemeServe, a UK based insurtech specialising in schemes software. New data from SchemeServe’s Schemes Premium Index compares data for April 2020 at the height of the lockdown to data from the same period ... Read the full article
Re/insurers’ public COVID-19 losses reach $20.2bn: PeriStrat
27th July 2020
Data compiled by Zurich-based financial services advisory PeriStrat LLC shows that publicly reported COVID-19 losses among the largest global insurers and reinsurers have now reached $20.2455 billion. Analysts noted that loss estimates have generally trended upwards in second quarter earnings releases. However, the tracked public loss figure is still less than most ... Read the full article
Santam approves $61mn relief payment for virus disruption
27th July 2020
South African insurer Santam has approved up to R1 billion (US $61 million) of relief payments for businesses hit by COVID-19 related disruption following an order by the country’s regulators. The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) and the Prudential Authority (PA) have told non-life insurers to make one-off payments to ... Read the full article
South African insurers to make relief payments to virus-hit businesses
27th July 2020
South African regulators the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) and the Prudential Authority (PA) have told non-life insurers to make one-off relief payments to businesses hit by COVID-19 losses as the market awaits a court decision on business interruption (BI) claims. The FSCA explained that these payments would allow businesses to ... Read the full article
COVID-19 pandemic compounding cyber risk: AM Best
27th July 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded cyber risk and should cause re/insurers to rethink and enhance their stress tests, according to analysts at AM Best. The rating agency noted a significant uptick in ‘spoofing’ attacks, with hackers posing as figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) or the Centers for Disease Control ... Read the full article
COVID-19 drives 27% drop in MAPFRE’s H1 earnings
27th July 2020
Spanish insurer MAPFRE saw it's earnings for the first half of 2020 drop 27.1% from the previous year to €271 million due to COVID-19 claims recorded in its reinsurance unit. Reinsurance losses in H1 reached €86.5 million, €76.5 million of which correspond to business interruption coverage. Alongside this, earthquakes in Puerto Rico ... Read the full article
SCOR selectively grows reinsurance book at mid-year renewals
24th July 2020
Global insurer and reinsurer SCOR's gross reinsurance premiums grew 1.3% from €708 million to €717 million at the mid-year renewals, as the company took advantage of continued market hardening. The re/insurer notes "strong price growth momentum," reporting overall 8.2% price increases across its renewal book at the mid-year, with improvements materialising ... Read the full article
CoreLogic’s Q2 organic revenue up 5% as firm sees $15mn COVID-19 impact
24th July 2020
Risk modelling firm CoreLogic has announced a 4% increase in reported revenues to $477 million in the second-quarter of 2020, and organic revenue growth of roughly 5%, up over 2% from the previous quarter. CoreLogic states that revenues were actually up by 15% once normalised for $28 million of second-quarter 2019 ... Read the full article
IAG enhances reinsurance use; CEO notes “immensely challenging” six months
24th July 2020
Australian insurer IAG has further strengthened its overall reinsurance position with the purchase of a new aggregate catastrophe reinsurance cover and a stop-loss protection for retained natural perils. The company has provided an update on its results for the fiscal year ended June 30th, 2020 and also offered some insights into ... Read the full article
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