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.
14th September 2018
Examining the distribution of losses from 2017 hurricanes, combined with looking at the market structure and penetration, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and state windstorm pools, suggests reinsurers might only assume 15% to 20% of the hurricane Florence exposure, based on a $10 billion insured loss. As the storm continues ... Read the full article
29th August 2018
Insurance carriers operating in Hawaii have sufficient capital and appropriate reinsurance programs in place to effectively absorb losses resulting from Hurricane Lane, which battered Hawaii with floods and landslides last week, according to A.M. Best. While Hurricane Lane never quite made direct landfall on Hawaii, it brought over 50 inches ... Read the full article
24th August 2018
Parts of Hawaii have experienced flash-flooding and landslides as downgraded Category 3 Hurricane Lane approaches the U.S state, bringing winds of 125mph (200km/h) and heavy rainfall, and causing reinsurance market exposure through aggregate contracts. Lane continues to weaken as it draws closer to the Hawaiian islands, although its outer bands have ... Read the full article
21st August 2018
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has announced that over half of the insurance claims relating to the flooding and storm that hit the Australian city of Hobart, Tasmania over May 10-11 have now been closed as the insurance bill nears AUD $100 million (USD $73 million). The $99.72 million figure ... Read the full article
21st August 2018
Re/insurance experts in India are expecting to see an increase in the premium charged by reinsurers for covering flood risk following the recent disaster in the Kerala region, which has caused estimated economic losses in excess of US $3 billion, according to the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS). IANS reported that ... Read the full article
20th August 2018
Severe flooding in the Kerala region of India is now expected to drive economic losses of at least US $3 billion, while the toll for the insurance industry is anticipated to rise. Based on the scale of the flooding and the still developing catastrophe in the Kerala region this estimate could ... Read the full article
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
