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.
Flood Re & Lighthill Risk Network partner with re/insurers on flood modelling report
14th May 2019
Flood Re, the UK’s government-backed reinsurance scheme, has partnered with researchers at Lighthill Risk Network, as well as a number of re/insurers and brokers, to produce a collaborative report on ways to improve flood risk understanding and management. The research project compiles input from Swiss Re, SCOR, Allianz, Aspen, Lloyds TSB, ... Read the full article
Flood Re opens online facility for MGAs to cede risk directly
14th May 2019
Flood Re, the UK’s government-backed reinsurance scheme, has opened a new online facility for managing general agents (MGAs) that will allow them to cede policies directly to Flood Re on behalf of their insurer. Previously, MGAs had to collate and send ceding data through an insurer in order to apply for ... Read the full article
Re/insurers set to pay $1 billion+ for April nat cats: Aon
13th May 2019
The latest global catastrophe recap report from insurance and reinsurance broker, Aon, reveals that insurers and reinsurers are set to pay out more than $1 billion in losses from natural disaster events that occurred in the month of April 2019. Aon's April, global catastrophe recap report highlights an extremely active month ... Read the full article
PERILS updates Townsville flood loss estimate to AUD $1.04bn
10th May 2019
Catastrophe loss data aggregator PERILS has updated its insured loss estimate to AUD $1.041 billion (USD $728.28 million) for the floods that hit the Australian city of Townsville, Queensland in February 2019. The update compares with PERILS’ initial loss estimate of AUD $957 million (USD $669 million), which was issued ... Read the full article
AmWINs launches commercial property flood product with TFIA
3rd May 2019
Global specialty insurance provider AmWINS has launched a new commercial property flood product in conjunction with its recent acquisition of Florida-based MGA The Flood Insurance Agency (TFIA). The new product, called FloodFLEX, is designed to eliminate out-of-pocket expenses not covered by traditional flood insurance, AmWINS explained. FloodFLEX increases the loss payable ... Read the full article
Former NAIC heads welcome expansion in private U.S flood market
17th April 2019
Former National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) presidents Ted Nickel and John Huff have said they are encouraged by the recent expansion of the private flood insurance market and regulation in the U.S. “The Midwest continues to suffer from the effects of devastating floods, yet few homeowners have the necessary flood ... Read the full article
KatRisk enhances cat modelling engine, financial model
15th April 2019
Catastrophe risk modeller, KatRisk LLC has announced updates to its SpatialKat 2.0 and SoloKat+ software and data, further enhancing its sophisticated cat modelling engine and financial model. KatRisk has revealed a range of updates, noting the firms' ability to quantify U.S. flood risk, both inland and storm surge, by leveraging its ... Read the full article
Global flood events in March result in $8 billion of economic losses: Aon
9th April 2019
Flooding events across the world in the month of March has resulted in economic losses of roughly $8 billion, with approximately half of this coming from events that hit the U.S., according to global insurance and reinsurance broker, Aon. Aon's monthly global catastrophe report highlights numerous flood events, which, combined are ... Read the full article
“Vast majority” of Midwest flood damage to go uninsured: A.M. Best
5th April 2019
According to A.M. Best, the “vast majority” of the damages to property from the ongoing flooding in Nebraska and other states along the Missouri River, which is expected to exceed $3 billion, will be uninsured. The Midwestern U.S has experienced major floods since mid-March 2019, partly caused by a blizzard early ... Read the full article
Government’s nat cat funding should target prevention over response: ICA
4th April 2019
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has expressed its frustration at the lack of preventative measures the country's government has adopted to tackle the economical and societal impacts of natural catastrophe events. In the aftermath of severe flooding in the Townsville and Queensland areas of Australia, which resulted in billions of ... Read the full article
FEMA returns to capital markets for NFIP risk transfer
21st March 2019
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has returned to the capital markets as it looks to transfer $300 million of risk from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). FEMA is seeking at least $300 million of collateralised reinsurance protection from insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors through its second catastrophe bond transaction ... Read the full article
ICA Townsville industry loss estimate exceeds AU$1bn
20th March 2019
The Insurance Council of Australia’s updated industry loss estimate for the flooding in Townsville, Queensland has hit AU$1.04 billion (US$737.4 million), an increase of AU$434 million from a month ago. ICA Chief Executive Officer Rob Whelan said insurers have so far received 25,778 claims, with around 90% of those consisting of ... Read the full article
FEMA announces changes to NFIP pricing structure: Reports
19th March 2019
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced changes to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), a move that could increase costs for some homeowners, reports Bloomberg. Under the new initiative, called Risk Rating 2.0, NFIP premiums will be tied to the actual flood risk of individual homes, instead of the ... Read the full article
Nebraska submerged after “bomb cyclone” wreaks havoc across Midwestern US
18th March 2019
Much of Nebraska remains submerged as the state’s emergency services attempt to cope with the worst flooding seen in 50 years. The floods are a direct result of last week’s “bomb cyclone”, which saw hurricane force winds, tornadoes, flooding and heavy snow sweep through various parts of the American Midwest. Nebraska Governor ... Read the full article
Australia’s Queensland floods to cost re/insurers $893mn: Aon
7th March 2019
The re/insurance industry is expected to incur losses of AUD $893 million (USD $635 million) as a result of the widespread flooding that affected Australia’s North Queensland from January 26 to February 7, according to Aon’s Impact Forecasting team. The estimate came as part of Aon’s monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report, ... Read the full article