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