Reinsurance News
Losses
News on catastrophe and man-made losses that impact or could impact the reinsurance industry and reinsurers around the globe.
Hurricane Laura makes Cat 4 landfall; NHC warns of “unsurvivable” storm surge
27th August 2020
Just before 1am local time, Hurricane Laura made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, packing sustained winds of 150 mph with the potential to impact more than 1 million homes. Hurricane Laura continued to strengthen throughout yesterday, almost reaching Category 5 hurricane status before making landfall ... Read the full article
Hurricane Laura continues to strengthen, storm surge threat significant
26th August 2020
Hurricane Laura has intensified further securing major Category 3 hurricane status, raising concerns for the offshore energy market as the storm continues to head for the Gulf Coast, with forecasters warning of a major landfall. As at 16:00 BST, Wed 26th August, data from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) shows that ... Read the full article
World economic resilience to fall in 2020; protection gap hits $1.24tn: Swiss Re
26th August 2020
The impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is expected to drive an almost 20% reduction in global macroeconomic resilience in 2020, while the global protection gap (disparity between economic and insured losses) has hit a new high of $1.24 trillion, according to Swiss Re Institute. In its latest annual resilience indices, ... Read the full article
KBW forecasts growing reinsurance losses & stronger rate increases
24th August 2020
Analysts at KBW are forecasting growing reinsurance losses in 2020 and stronger reinsurance rate increases next year, based on loss activity over the year so far. Reinsurers Munich Re and Swiss Re have already estimated that insured catastrophe losses will total $27 billion and $31 billion over the first ... Read the full article
COVID-19 looking more like an earnings event than a capital event: David Flandro
24th August 2020
Speaking during a recent second quarter earnings update, Hyperion X's David Flandro outlined a belief that COVID-19 is looking more like an earnings event than a capital event, despite the sizeable difficulties remaining for the re/insurance sector as a result of the pandemic. Flandro, noting how reinsurers have taken a larger ... Read the full article
Allstate’s July catastrophe results produce income on $450m PG&E recovery
20th August 2020
U.S. primary insurer, The Allstate Corporation, has revealed that catastrophe results for the month of July generated pre-tax income of $334 million ($264mn after-tax), as previously announced PG&E subrogation recoveries more than offset the impacts of catastrophe events in the period. After investigations in 2019 found that PG&E's equipment was responsible ... Read the full article
Katrina’s economic impact would be $40bn higher today: Swiss Re
18th August 2020
A new report from Swiss Re Institute has estimated that economic costs could be as high as $200 billion if Hurricane Katrina were to hit New Orleans in 2020, which is more than $40 billion higher than the 2005 total. Adjusted for inflation, economic losses from Katrina come to approximately $160 ... Read the full article
Public COVID-19 losses among re/insurers up 23% to $24.8bn
18th August 2020
Publicly recorded COVID-19-related losses among the largest global insurance and reinsurance companies have increased by almost 23% to $24.8 billion, according to data compiled by Zurich-based financial services advisory, PeriStrat LLC. We wrote on July 27th that publicly reported losses from the coronavirus pandemic among the largest re/insurers had reached ... Read the full article
Beirut port explosion claims hit $425mn
17th August 2020
Insurance claims resulting from the Beirut port explosion on August 4, believed to have been caused by 2,750 metric tons of unsafely stored ammonium nitrate, has officially reached $425 million. Following a meeting between Lebanon's President Michel Aoun, Minister of Economy Raoul Nehme and an extensive delegation from the insurance sector, ... Read the full article
PERILS raises storm Victoria (Dennis) industry loss to €344mn
17th August 2020
Catastrophe loss data aggregator, PERILS AG, has updated its insured property market loss estimate for extratropical cyclone Victoria (Dennis) by more than 20% to €344 million. The storm impacted the British Isles and north-western Europe from 15th to 17th February, 2020 and occurred just six days after extratropical cyclone Sabine. PERILS ... Read the full article
Hurricane Isaias insured losses seen at up to $5bn by RMS
17th August 2020
Catastrophe risk modeller RMS has estimated that total insured losses from the impacts of Hurricane Isaias will be between $3 billion and $5 billion, which includes National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) losses of between $400 million and $700 million. The large majority of the insured loss, between $3 billion and $4.5 ... Read the full article
PERILS raises Australian East Coast Low loss to AU $954mn
14th August 2020
Catastrophe insurance data provider PERILS has raised its industry loss estimate for the East Coast Low that hit Australia in February 2020 to AU $954 million (US $683 million). This updated estimate, which comes six months on from the event, is significantly higher than PERILS’ initial loss estimate of $794 million. The ... Read the full article
Global insured cat losses below average at $31bn in H1: Swiss Re
11th August 2020
Swiss Re Institute estimates that global insured catastrophe losses were $31 billion in the first half of 2020, up from $23 billion last year but well below the average H1 cost of $36 billion. Global economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters came to $75 billion in H1 2020, according ... Read the full article
Beirut port explosion insured loss seen at up to $3bn: reports
11th August 2020
The insurance industry loss from the Beirut port explosion, thought to have been caused by 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate that was stored unsafely, is estimated at up to $3 billion by the Association of Insurance Companies in Lebanon (ACAL). According to a report by Al Roeya, the ACAL has ... Read the full article
Isaias to drive $4bn industry loss in US, $200mn in Caribbean: KCC
10th August 2020
Catastrophe risk modeller Karen Clark & Company (KCC) has estimated that Hurricane Isaias will drive an insured loss of $4 billion in the United States and $200 million in the Caribbean. The estimate includes the privately insured wind and storm surge damage to residential, commercial, and industrial properties and automobiles, but ... Read the full article
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