Reinsurance News
Flood insurance and reinsurance news
News related to flood insurance and reinsurance, including: new products and market innovation; flood insurance market loss events; companies underwriting flood insurance or reinsurance; public flood insurance through the NFIP; and the expanding availability of private market flood coverage.
US flood risk awareness increasing as major insurers pull back: analysts
26th September 2019
While current property flood risk disclosure requirements are set at the state level and can vary quite significantly, Morgan Stanley analysts note how some states have begun implementing more stringent conditions following recent major events. Texas, for example, revised its flood risk disclosure requirements following Hurricane Harvey, with property owners now ... Read the full article
Louis Hobson to lead Chubb’s North America Flood Insurance division
24th September 2019
Insurer and reinsurer Chubb has appointed Louis Hobson as Senior Vice President (SVP) of Flood Insurance for North America, based in Chicago and reporting to Derek Talbott, Division President of Chubb's North America Property & Specialty Lines. In this role, Hobson will work alongside the firm's personal and commercial lines of ... Read the full article
Munich Re partners with AAIS to address US flood protection gap
24th September 2019
Munich Re has partnered with not-for-profit advisory organisation the American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) to focus on improving flood insurance protection for US homeowners. The flood insurance protection gap in the US continues to expand alongside the heightened risk of flood, the partnership noted, particularly for homeowners outside major flood ... Read the full article
Spanish floods to drive industry loss upwards of €287mn, says Aon
20th September 2019
The major flooding that occurred in southeast and central Spain last week is likely to drive an insurance and reinsurance industry loss in excess of €287 million (US $318 million), according to analysts at Aon. The broker also estimated that insured losses would represent only a fraction of the total economic ... Read the full article
Insurance consortium CCS expects €203mn loss from Spanish floods
19th September 2019
The Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros (the Insurance Compensation Consortium, or CCS) is expecting to face a loss of approximately €203 million as a result of the recent flooding in Spain. Record-breaking rainfall in the south-east of the country last week caused catastrophic flash-flooding, bursting river banks, sweeping away cars, and ... Read the full article
Marsh’s Torrent Technologies develops new flood offering
18th September 2019
Torrent Technologies, a Marsh company, has announced the launch of FloodPlus Commercial, a new private market primary flood insurance offering for agents of its Write Your Own (WYO) carrier clients. FloodPlus commercial provides up to $2.5 million in flood coverage for small commercial property owners’ building, building personal property (BPP), and ... Read the full article
JBA Risk Management develops probabilistic global flood model
16th September 2019
Flood risk modeller JBA Risk Management has announced the launch of a new probabilistic global flood model that will allow re/insurers to model river and surface water flood at 30 metres worldwide. The model, which JBA claims to be the first of its kind, will enable consistent comparisons of loss across ... Read the full article
AXA XL, insurtech Neptune Flood strike underwriting partnership
12th September 2019
Global re/insurer AXA XL has partnered with Neptune Flood, an all-digital flood platform that leverages data analytics to provide agents and direct buyers the ability to rapidly quote and bind a policy. It’s hoped the underwriting partnership will expand Neptune’s flood insurance capacity to homeowners throughout the US. Chris Bressette, Senior Vice ... Read the full article
Zurich NA, Wright to launch residential private flood insurance
28th August 2019
The North American arm of global insurer Zurich is partnering with flood insurer Wright National on a stand-alone product, due to launch in Florida on September 3, called Zurich Residential Private Flood Insurance With plans to expand coverage to 11 additional states in the future, the product allows property owners to ... Read the full article
Reviving the private US flood market could generate $41.6bn in premiums: Verisk
23rd August 2019
Recent analysis from data analytics provider Verisk suggests that reviving the private flood insurance market in the US could generate $41.6 billion in written premiums for insurers from owner-occupied homes. The figure came as part of a study that concluded 62 million residential locations in the US could be at moderate ... Read the full article
InsurTech Previsico targets insurance sector with flood resilience solution
14th August 2019
InsurTech firm Previsico, a SpinOut company from Loughborough University that specialises in modelling flooding in real-time, has announced its entry into the insurance sector following a successful seed funding round. The InsurTech specialises in modelling surface water flooding in real-time, and leverages the latest weather predictions to produce property-level flood nowcasts ... Read the full article
PERILS raises Townsville flood loss estimate to AUD 1.2bn
12th August 2019
Catastrophe loss data aggregator PERILS has raised its property loss estimate for the floods that hit the Australian city of Townsville earlier this year to AUD 1.217 billion (USD 822 million). PERILS’ third estimate, which does not include losses from motor and other lines of business, represents a AUD 176 ... Read the full article
ICA increases Townsville flood loss estimate to AU $1.24 billion
2nd August 2019
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has increased its estimates for insured losses resulting from the Townsville floods in February, putting the latest figure at AU $1.243 billion (US $844.2 million). This represents a 19.5% increase from the AU $1.04 billion estimate released by the ICA in March, a number ... Read the full article
Flood Re commends UK Gov on new resilience funding projects
24th July 2019
Flood Re, the UK’s government-backed reinsurance scheme, has welcomed an announcement that £2.9 million in funding has been awarded to three flood resilience projects across the UK. The projects in Yorkshire, Devon and Cornwall, and Central England will receive up to £700,000 to boost research into property-level flood resilience measures, and ... Read the full article
Flood risk continues in Louisiana as Storm Barry crawls inland
15th July 2019
The impact of Storm Barry in Louisiana appears to have been better than initially feared, but authorities have warned that the risk of flooding remains high as Barry continues its slow crawl across the state. Barry made landfall 160 miles west of New Orleans on Saturday as a Category 1 hurricane, ... Read the full article