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.
MS&AD incurs $600mn loss from Japan’s July floods
9th August 2018
Japanese insurer MS&AD has incurred expected gross losses of 66 billion yen (US $594.3 million) following Japan’s historic flooding in July 2018, which caused widespread property damage across the southwest of the country and left 225 people dead. MS&AD said that the loss estimate, which was calculated on information available ... Read the full article
Parametric insurtech FloodFlash secures $1.9m in seed funding
3rd August 2018
FoodFlash, an insurtech that offers parametric insurance solutions to previously un-insurable flood risks, has raised $1.9 million in seed funding from LocalGlobe, Pentech Ventures and InsurTech Gateway. FloodFlash leverages internet-connected water sensors to trigger a pre-agreed fixed sum immediately to a policyholder. An example of event-based insurance, settlement is made based on ... Read the full article
FEMA completes $500mn NFIP cat bond reinsurance deal
1st August 2018
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has successfully secured $500 million of reinsurance for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) from the capital markets with the issuance of its FloodSmart Re 2018-1 catastrophe bond. The transaction, which was backed by more than 35 capital markets investors, significantly expands FEMA’s reinsurance program, ... Read the full article
Swiss Re partnership targets property protection gap in Florida
30th July 2018
Swiss Re has partnered with Florida-based homeowners insurer Security First to provide policyholders with increased protection from water damage, including flood coverage. Ratings are to be based on Swiss Re’s proprietary flood model and priced according to the individual risk exposure. This allows for a more sophisticated delineation of premiums based on ... Read the full article
FEMA increases NFIP cat bond reinsurance value to $500mn
26th July 2018
The U.S Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has significantly increased the scope of the capital markets reinsurance that it has secured for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) via the issuance of its first catastrophe bond to $500 million. Issued via FloodSmart Re, a Bermuda domiciled special purpose insurance vehicle, Read the full article
FEMA urges at-risk Floridians to secure & maintain flood insurance
25th July 2018
As the hurricane season reaches its midway-point, the U.S Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has called on Floridians to secure and maintain flood insurance. FEMA states that only half of Florida homeowners in high-risk areas had insurance against flooding before hurricane Irma made landfall late last year. Concurrently, however, the National Flood ... Read the full article
Munich Re launches new commercial U.S inland flood solution
24th July 2018
Munich Reinsurance America, Inc., a subsidiary of reinsurance giant Munich Re, has launched a new U.S commercial inland flood product aimed at small businesses and habitational properties located in low-to-moderate flood zones. The endorsement offers insurance protection for the building, contents (including business property in a basement), business interruption/extra expense, the ... Read the full article
FEMA launches first NFIP cat bond via FloodSmart Re
19th July 2018
The U.S Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has launched its first catastrophe bond to transfer risk from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to the capital markets. Issued via FloodSmart Re, a Bermuda domiciled special purpose insurance vehicle, the catastrophe bond will attempt to secure $275 million of reinsurance protection for ... Read the full article
Cattolica in national nat cat scheme for religious buildings in Italy
18th July 2018
Cattolica Assicurazioni, Italy’s sixth largest insurer, has finalised an agreement with the Episcopal Conference of Italy (CEI) to provide a re/insurance policy that will protect religious buildings from natural catastrophe risks in all 25,796 parishes of the 225 Italian dioceses. The policy is believed to be the first national scheme of ... Read the full article
JBA launches first UK climate change flood risk model
16th July 2018
JBA Risk Management, the global flood risk modeller, has developed the first probabilistic catastrophe model to factor in the effects of climate change on flood risk for insurers and reinsurers in the UK. The launch of the UK Climate Change Flood Model is accompanied by the projection that annual average losses ... Read the full article
Flood Re sets 2039 goal for affordable risk-reflective pricing
11th July 2018
Flood Re, the UK's flood reinsurance facility, has outlined the changes it believes are necessary to achieve affordable risk-reflective pricing by 2039. The second transition plan, titled ‘Flood Re, Our Vision: Preparing for a future of affordable flood insurance’, covers 12 areas and includes limiting the risks of flooding, reducing the ... Read the full article
Widespread destruction following historic Japan floods
9th July 2018
Japan has suffered some of the worst flooding in its history over the weekend, with more than 100 people confirmed dead and widespread damage to homes and businesses reported. "The record rainfalls in various parts of the country have caused rivers to burst their banks, and triggered large scale floods and ... Read the full article
Simplitium expands ModEx platform with addition of FloodCat model
5th July 2018
Simplitium, a provider of risk analysis services, is to expand its catastrophe risk modelling platform ModEx to include the Australia flood model, FloodCat. The deal struck with modelling specialist Ambiental Risk Analytics means that the ModEx platform will integrate the most detailed building level flood model produced for Australia, providing re/insurers ... Read the full article
Zurich’s flood resilience alliance extended to 2023 with new $1bn funding goal
4th July 2018
The flood resilience alliance led by Zurich Insurance Group has been extended until 2023, with new five-year objectives including the generation of US $1 billion in additional funding for flood resilience programmes. The multi-sector alliance of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), academia, and risk management experts has already provided post-event recovery support to 110 ... Read the full article
Flood damages could double if coral reef destruction continues
28th June 2018
Annual expected damages from floods could double without the coastal protection benefits afforded by coral reefs, while annual storm damages could triple, according to a new study by Nature Communications. The study identified coral reefs as a vital component of coastal protection for both people and property, and calculated that, for ... Read the full article
Getting your daily reinsurance news from Reinsurance News is a simple way to receive only the reinsurance industry news that matters, delivered directly to your email inbox.
