Reinsurance News
COVID-19 news
News about the impact of the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and how it affected insurance and reinsurance markets.
Munich Re to stop covering businesses against pandemic losses: reports
11th September 2020
Global reinsurer Munich Re will no longer be providing cover to businesses against pandemic losses, according to reports from Bloomberg. This comes after the company took a €1.5 billion hit in the first half of 2020 as a result of the the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon the release of its financial results ... Read the full article
P&C reinsurance buyers expecting 5% price rise off COVID-19, nat cat losses: Moody’s
11th September 2020
Respondents to a Moody’s survey of P&C reinsurance buyers are expecting reinsurance prices to rise by at least 5% next year. Reinsurers' profitability is generally anticipated to take a hit from factors such as COVID-19, more volatile natural catastrophe losses and capacity constraints. Over 90% of respondents had an expectation for price ... Read the full article
Lloyd’s sticks by $107bn COVID-19 industry loss estimate
11th September 2020
Lloyd's of London has confirmed that it is sticking to the estimated loss of $107bn as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a recent webinar hosted by John Neal, CEO of Lloyd's of London, he was asked if he could confirm this amount to be an accurate estimate. Neal commented: “The ... Read the full article
Utilising new tech key for life insurers post COVID-19: Moody’s
11th September 2020
Analysts at Moody’s Investors Service believe it will be the technologically advanced life insurers that will likely come out of the COVID-19 pandemic on top in terms of sales, revenue, and profit growth. Moody’s Vice President Laura Bazer says those with rigid product and business models could end up falling behind ... Read the full article
Supply chain restructuring to generate $63bn in premiums: Swiss Re
10th September 2020
Swiss Re believes that supply chain restructuring resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic could drive new demand for insurance protections, and estimates that additional global premium volumes of around $63 billion could be generated over the next five years. The latest Swiss Re Institute sigma study explores the idea that global supply ... Read the full article
Billions at stake ahead of FCA court ruling: Deutsche Bank
10th September 2020
Commentary from Deutsche Bank highlights that billions of pounds in potential insurance claims are at stake ahead of the imminent court judgement on the FCA’s business interruption (BI) case. The re/insurance industry is anxiously awaiting a verdict from the UK courts in the coming days about whether insurers will ultimately ... Read the full article
Fitch stays negative on global reinsurance for 2021 amid COVID-19 impacts
10th September 2020
Fitch has said that the outlook for the global reinsurance sector for 2021 remains negative, amid growing COVID-19 losses, the global economic contraction, and the lower for longer interest rate environment. The ratings agency's outlook for the global reinsurance industry turned negative back in March, and while reinsurance companies are ... Read the full article
Lloyd’s falls to H1 net loss; expects gross COVID-19 claims of $6.5bn
10th September 2020
The specialist Lloyd's of London insurance and reinsurance marketplace has reported a loss of £0.4 billion (USD 0.5bn) in the first half of 2020, as COVID-19 related claims, after reinsurance recoveries, reached £2.4 billion (USD 3.1bn). On a gross basis, Lloyd's says that it expects to pay out up to £5 ... Read the full article
COVID pressure could drive a capital event for top reinsurers: S&P
9th September 2020
With insured losses and investment volatility from the COVID-19 pandemic having already eroded much of the industry’s earnings buffers for 2020, analysts at S&P have warned that it may only take an average catastrophe year to drive a capital event for many top reinsurers. Specifically, S&P believes that if 2020 cat ... Read the full article
SCOR very positive on hardening P&C market as it absorbs COVID-19 impacts
9th September 2020
Global reinsurer SCOR sees current P&C market conditions as very positive and is anticipating growth with solid pricing dynamics, as the company absorbs the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The French reinsurance company is the latest to note an expectation of continued rate hardening across the reinsurance sector, exacerbated by the ... Read the full article
Re/insurers looking for “less risky” insurtech investments: Willis Re’s Andrew Johnston
8th September 2020
Re/insurers are looking for insurtech investment opportunities that represent less of a ‘risk’, in that they have a proven track record and are more likely to be successful. In a recent conversation between Reinsurance News and Dr Andrew Johnston, global head of insurtech at Willis Re, it was explained how it ... Read the full article
B.P. Marsh investments half in H1 off COVID-19 disruption
8th September 2020
B.P. Marsh, a specialist venture capital provider to early stage financial services businesses, completed 22 new investments in the first half of 2020, a significant drop from the 49 completed in the prior year period. The company attributes this drop to the challenges posed by COVID-19 but says it remains well ... Read the full article
Global reinsurance sector won’t earn cost of capital in 2020: S&P
8th September 2020
Analysts at S&P Global Ratings say the global reinsurance sector won't earn its cost of capital in 2020, just as it has struggled to do so in the past three years. Prospectively, the ratings agency says it could reconsider its negative view of the sector at the point that it believes ... Read the full article
Munich Re endorses state-backed pools for pandemic risk
8th September 2020
Munich Re has argued that pandemic risks are “not insurable by the private sector alone” and has endorsed the use of state-backed risk pools to mitigate their impact. The reinsurer notes that the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted how vulnerable the world still is to very large risks, and says that more ... Read the full article
More COVID travel coverage a good move in the long run: GlobalData
8th September 2020
According to data and analytics company GlobalData, an increasing number of re/insurers are reincorporating COVID-19-related repatriation and medical expenses as well as cancellation coverage. Big names such as Blue Insurance, Allianz, Caster, and Staysure have opted to reintroduce coverage despite the associated risk of these claims in the travel insurance market. This ... Read the full article
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