Reinsurance News
COVID-19 news
News about the impact of the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and how it affected insurance and reinsurance markets.
Bank of England voices concern over virus BI claims
8th July 2020
Anna Sweeney, the Bank of England’s (BoE) executive director for insurance, has said that business interruption (BI) related to the COVID-19 pandemic claims remain a serious concern for the UK insurance and reinsurance industries. Her comments come as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) prepares to seek legal clarity on whether ... Read the full article
Cape Town restaurant wins COVID-19 BI claims court battle against insurer
8th July 2020
Café Chameleon, a restaurant in the northern suburbs of Cape Town, recently won an important COVID-19-related insurance claims court battle against insurer Guardrisk Insurance, a division of Momentum Metropolitan Holdings. To mitigate the spread of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa, like many other countries around the world, entered into a ... Read the full article
Argo expecting $10-20mn Q2 virus loss
8th July 2020
Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd., the Bermuda based insurance and reinsurance company, has said that it is anticipating net losses of between $10 million and $20 million related to COVID-19 to be recorded in its second quarter earnings. The company fell to a net loss of $18.8 million in Q1 ... Read the full article
Workers’ comp insurers hit by high unemployment: Moody’s
8th July 2020
A surge in unemployment rates due to the COVID-19 lockdown is set to weigh heavily on the profitability of workers’ compensation insurers in the US, according to analysts at Moody’s. The rating agency noted that the workers’ compensation sector is structurally tied to the economy and labour markets. Employers in the US ... Read the full article
The Hartford extends COVID-19 personal auto payback plan
8th July 2020
Property and casualty insurer The Hartford has announced that it will extend its COVID-19 personal auto payback plan through June. The plan originally provided customers with a 15% credit on their April and May personal auto insurance premiums. Extending the plan through June brings the total amount the company will distribute to ... Read the full article
COVID-19 to compound Florida property insurers’ woes: AM Best
7th July 2020
The numerous headwinds in Florida's property insurance market have become more complex amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report by AM Best. Challenges such as higher reinsurance pricing and social inflation continue to challenge the financial strength of Florida's personal property writers and impact coverage availability and affordability in the ... Read the full article
Chubb reports Q2 cat losses of $1.8bn; COVID-19 hit of $1.37bn
7th July 2020
Global insurer and reinsurer Chubb has announced that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with severe weather-related events and civil unrest in the U.S., has resulted in global net catastrophe losses of $1.807 billion (pre-tax) for the second-quarter of 2020. Chubb reveals that its Q2 catastrophe loss estimates include COVID-19 ... Read the full article
COVID-19 a threat to insurers positive momentum: OECD
6th July 2020
Analysis by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warns that positive premium and investment income growth in 2019 for the majority of insurers might not be maintained in 2020 as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For the majority of countries, gross written premiums increased in 2019, most ... Read the full article
Lloyd’s Lab adds three start-ups to COVID-19 program
6th July 2020
Insurance and reinsurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London has started working with three new insurtech start-ups to help the market respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of a package of measures to respond to the crisis, Lloyd’s has expanded the scope for new applicants to the Lloyd’s Lab innovation accelerator. The ... Read the full article
Airmic endorses Lloyd’s pandemic recovery solutions
3rd July 2020
Airmic, the UK association for risk and insurance professionals, has welcomed Lloyd’s proposals for how the insurance industry can support global economic and societal recovery from the impacts of COVID-19. Earlier this week, Lloyd’s laid out three open source frameworks designed to fast-track global economic and societal recovery from COVID-19, ... Read the full article
Stock market volatility still biggest challenge for Japan re/insurers: AM Best
3rd July 2020
COVID-19 induced volatility in the stock market continues to pose the biggest challenge to the balance sheets of Japan’s major non-life re/insurers, according to analysts at AM Best. The rating agency noted that high common stock leverage among each of Japan’s re/insurers has brought systematic equity price risk into greater consideration. The ... Read the full article
COVID-19 losses “entirely manageable” for Lloyd’s: report
2nd July 2020
A new report by Syndicate Research Limited (SRL) has claimed that COVID-19 losses will be “entirely manageable” for re/insurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London in light of the investment market’s recovery. The Lloyd’s Market has estimated pre-tax underwriting losses from COVID-19 of £2.5 billion to £3.5 billion, equivalent to 9.7% to 13.6% ... Read the full article
Capsicum Re helps Arch secure additional mortgage reinsurance
2nd July 2020
Arch Mortgage Insurance Company (Arch MI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Arch Capital Group Ltd., has secured $528 million of indemnity reinsurance via a mortgage insurance-linked note (ILN) transaction and direct reinsurance. The $528 million of mortgage reinsurance covers a pool representing around $44 billion of mortgages for Arch MI, and ... Read the full article
MGAA members eager to return to face-to-face operations: survey
2nd July 2020
A recent survey of MGAA members, conducted by insurance communications agency Full Circle, reveals that despite heightened use of social media and video conferencing services during the current crisis, the large majority of respondents expect a return to face-to-face client and broker meetings. In fact, just 15% of survey respondents said ... Read the full article
COVID-19 shows critical role of re/insurance: AXA CEO Buberl
1st July 2020
The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the “critical role” that re/insurance has in protecting societies and driving economic growth, according to Thomas Buberl, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AXA. Speaking alongside the company’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in Paris, Buberl said that pandemic would motivate AXA to transform its business practices and focus ... Read the full article
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