Reinsurance News
COVID-19 news
News about the impact of the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and how it affected insurance and reinsurance markets.
Shanghai lockdown a $28bn global trade hit: Russell
6th May 2022
The current Shanghai Covid lockdown has created severe delays at the port, delivering a $28 billion hit to global trade, with clothing and textiles industries having the most exposure, according to analysis by Russell Group, a data and analytics company. Recent COVID flare-ups across China have caused huge disruption both to ... Read the full article
JP Morgan predicts increased life reinsurance claims in the US from Covid
4th May 2022
JP Morgan has said it expects life reinsurance claims to be higher in the US due to Covid. The firm said that an analysis of the available data showed that there had been more than 130,000 covid-related deaths in the US in Q1 2022 and that this would lead to poor ... Read the full article
Life reinsurance carriers well capitalised despite COVID-19: AM Best
6th April 2022
In its latest market segment report, global ratings agency AM Best has said that life reinsurance carriers remain well capitalised withstanding pressures surrounding COVID-19. The report states that COVID-related life claims emerged much later for global life reinsurers, than it did for non-life reinsurers, with claims surging in late 2020 and ... Read the full article
Report says US insurers turned increasingly to tech during pandemic
31st March 2022
A new report from Information Services Group states that many US insurers turned to technology to meet changing operational and market demands through the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the firm, its 2021 ISG Provider Lens Insurance Platform Solutions Report for the US finds the pandemic served as a catalyst for digital ... Read the full article
COVID resurgence in China impacting supply chains, warns Maersk
31st March 2022
Shipping and logistics company Maersk has warned that flare-ups of COVID-19 across many of China’s largest cities are having an adverse effect on global supply chains. A number of cities in China, including Beijing, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Qingdao, are currently dealing with a resurgence in COVID cases. In response, the ... Read the full article
COVID widened insurance innovation divide: AM Best
28th March 2022
Analysts at AM Best have argued that the COVID-19 pandemic has widened the ‘innovation divide’ among nonlife re/insurers, with a clear link to better top-line growth for insurers with more-developed innovation initiatives. In a new report, the rating agency found that global nonlife insurers with higher innovation assessments had a five-year ... Read the full article
No adjustment to IAG’s provision for business interruption losses
23rd March 2022
Australian insurer IAG has said that at this time, there will be no adjustments to its $1.222 billion net provision for potential business interruption claims related to the COVID-19 pandemic. As we reported yesterday, numerous insurers and reinsurers are seeking to contest the verdict of Australia’s pandemic test case and ... Read the full article
Re/insurers to appeal Australia’s pandemic test case verdict
22nd March 2022
A number of major insurers and reinsurers, including Swiss Re, IAG and Chubb, are seeking to contest the verdict of Australia’s pandemic test case in the country’s High Court. These insurers and others filed documents for an appeal on Monday, according to reports from The Australian, as did two insured businesses ... Read the full article
Cat loss experience remained significant in 2021: AM Best
21st March 2022
According to analysts at AM Best, the global insurance-linked securities (ILS) market remains saddled with prior catastrophe losses, a decline in assets under management for some prominent ILS funds and a drop in the overall performance of ILS funds despite another year of a record catastrophe bond issuance. The analysts noted ... Read the full article
European reinsurers enjoy better P&C results as COVID recedes
15th March 2022
Analysts at Moody’s have highlighted better overall property and casualty (P&C) results among the largest four European reinsurers, which they say are mainly a function of significantly lower COVID-19 losses than in 2020. For P&C business, new COVID-19 claims fell in 2021 as the companies introduced in their policies wording to ... Read the full article
Thai insurers under COVID claims pressure: AM Best
9th March 2022
Operating losses relating to medical insurance products covering COVID-19 infections have put considerable strain on the operating performance and balance sheets of several Thailand insurers, according to analysts at AM Best. The rating agency notes that most of the COVID-19 claims in the country have come from a short-term policy that ... Read the full article
RGA’s full year net income rises despite $1.4bn in COVID-19 claims
4th February 2022
U.S life reinsurance company, Reinsurance Group of America (RGA), has reported net income of $617 million for the full year 2021 in spite of pre-tax COVID-19 claims of around $1.4 billion. Year-on-year, RGA's 2021 net income swelled by more than 48%, while operating income fell dramatically, from $496 million in 2020 ... Read the full article
FBD reaches agreement with reinsurers on COVID-19 BI recoveries
31st January 2022
FBD Insurance has now reached an agreement with reinsurers on how recoveries will operate relating to COVID-19 business interruption (BI) claims from public house customers. As we wrote last year, the Irish High Court previously ruled that FBD Insurance must compensate four pub owners for the disruption caused to their ... Read the full article
Covid-19 prompts investment rethinking for insurers
24th January 2022
The Covid-19 pandemic, two years in, has caused major shifts in the investment policies of major insurers, according to a new report from bfinance. The Insurer Investment Survey, released this week, reports on how insurers have been working to improve their investment outcomes since March 2020. This move, said bfinance, in ... Read the full article
BI test case payouts approach £1.3bn at one-year mark: FCA
20th January 2022
New data from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) shows that the total reported claims payments for policies related to the COVID-19 business interruption (BI) test case in the UK are now approaching £1.3 billion, 12 months on from the Supreme Court's final ruling on the case. The data shows that, as ... Read the full article