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.
Coronavirus attacks show UK cyber vulnerabilities: GlobalData
12th March 2020
Data and analytics company GlobalData has reported that small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK remain underinsured and vulnerable to cyber attacks. The comments come amid a surge of coronavirus-related cyber attacks, which UK police estimate to have caused £800,000 of total losses from 21 separate cases in February alone. The ... Read the full article
Coronavirus to trigger global recession in 2020, warns Swiss Re
11th March 2020
Swiss Re Institute has said it is expecting to see a global recession in 2020 as the coronavirus outbreak continues to cause major disruption around the world, putting pressure on already weak economic resilience. Analysts noted that the recession will likely be mild in a historical context, although economic growth will ... Read the full article
Analysts assess potential Covid-19 impact on reinsurance market
11th March 2020
While the eventual impact of Covid-19 (more commonly known as Coronavirus) on the global insurance market remains unclear, analysts at international law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner believe there’s potential for the issue to cause insurers to maximise their reinsurance recovery. Analysts say such a development has the potential to grip ... Read the full article
European re/insurers prepared to manage pandemic risk: AM Best
9th March 2020
Against the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak, AM Best has said that it considers European insurers and reinsurers to be well positioned to manage their potential exposure to pandemic risk. The rating agency noted that COVID-19 has the potential to challenge European re/insurers on both the asset and liability side of ... Read the full article
AM Best warns of growing claims as coronavirus spreads in US
6th March 2020
Rating agency AM Best has warned of a potential rise in claims for US health insurers due to the growing number of coronavirus cases and deaths being reported across the country. More than 100,000 cases of coronavirus have now been confirmed globally, and an estimated 3,412 people are thought to have ... Read the full article
KBRA warns of “wide-ranging” coronavirus implications
4th March 2020
Analysts at Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) have warned that property and casualty (P&C) re/insurers could face “wide-ranging” implications due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The rating agency said there remained “substantial uncertainty” about the nature and volume of coronavirus-related claims, but said that large commercial and industrial line re/insurers ... Read the full article
Coronavirus impact currently minimal for US P/C firms, says Fitch
2nd March 2020
Currently, the ongoing coronavirus outbreak is not expected to have a meaningful adverse impact on the financial results of U.S. property/casualty (P/C) companies, nor their ratings, according to Fitch. The financial services ratings agency has said that a combination of the nature of insured commercial exposures and restrictive language embedded in ... Read the full article
Ping An image-reading system to help diagnose coronavirus
28th February 2020
Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. has launched a smart image-reading system to help doctors more efficiently and accurately diagnose cases of coronavirus (COVID-19). Developed by Ping An Smart Healthcare, part of subsidiary Ping An Smart City, the system aims to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to help control the ... Read the full article
Coronavirus impacts to be limited for EMEA & US markets: S&P
25th February 2020
The ongoing coronavirus outbreak is not expected to cause any earnings or capital shocks for insurance and global reinsurers based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the US, according to S&P Global Ratings. The rating agency expects these re/insurers to incur some claims from the spread of COVID-19, ... Read the full article
Coronavirus adds economic pressure for Southeast Asia re/insurers: AM Best
24th February 2020
The claims impact from the coronavirus is likely to be manageable for Southeast Asia-based re/insurers in the short-term, but the resulting economic slowdown could lead to additional pressures, according to analysts at AM Best. The rating agency expects the potential direct impacts of the coronavirus to include medical, personal accident, mortality, ... Read the full article
Coronavirus not an issue for Swiss Re, industry: CFO John Dacey
20th February 2020
Senior executives at Swiss Re have said that the ongoing coronavirus outbreak is not expected to be a “material issue” for the company, or for the wider re/insurance industry. Speaking during a media call alongside the release of Swiss Re’s 2019 results, Group Chief Financial Officer John Dacey said that ... Read the full article
Chinese province to subsidise coronavirus cover for businesses
17th February 2020
Hainan, an island province in the southernmost region of China, has launched an insurance product designed to cover business losses relating to the coronavirus outbreak, according to reports from Reuters. The scheme has been co-launched by 12 re/insurers, including PICC, China Pacific Insurance Co, and Ping An Insurance Group. The Hainan government ... Read the full article
Extreme pandemic could exhaust 12% of US life capital: S&P
17th February 2020
Analysts at S&P Global Ratings have estimated that an extreme pandemic event could result in $52 billion of excess net mortality claims for US life re/insurers, or about 12% of aggregate industry capital. This hypothetical stress test was conducted against the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected 71,442 people ... Read the full article
Free coronavirus cover offered by insurtech WeSure
17th February 2020
WeSure, the insurance platform launched by Chinese multinational conglomerate Tencent in 2017, says over 100,000 medical professionals across the country signed up to its free coronavirus cover. The company has been active in establishing partnerships and products designed to tackle Covid-19, with one plan advertising up to £65,000 of protection for ... Read the full article
Coronavirus a “wakeup call for insurers”, says Aon’s Dutkiewicz
11th February 2020
Colin Dutkiewicz, Head of Life at Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions business, has said that the ongoing coronavirus outbreak should serve as a “wakeup call for insurers” to further analyse their exposure to epidemics and pandemics. With analysts now suggesting that the coronavirus could represent a significant risk for re/insurers across the globe, ... Read the full article