Reinsurance News
pandemic
AM Best lends weight to pandemic backstop agenda
13th October 2020
Rating agency AM Best has become the latest industry body to voice support for tackling future pandemic risk through public-private partnership. In a new report, analysts noted that insurers are likely to face significant reserve uncertainty arising from the current accident year due to the challenge of estimating COVID-19 losses. Social inflation, ... Read the full article
Pandemic overtakes climate change as top market concern: AXA
1st October 2020
The latest Future Risks Report from AXA has found that pandemic and infectious diseases have risen quickly to become the foremost concern of risk management experts and the general public this year. Previously ranked as the eighth most concerning risk in 2019, the global outbreak of COVID-19 has since propelled the ... Read the full article
“Foolish” & “lazy” to say pandemic risk is completely uninsurable: Chubb’s Keogh
30th September 2020
While the re/insurance industry can't do it alone, taking the stance that the sector can't insure pandemic risk at all is a mistake, according to John Keogh, Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chubb. Keogh discussed the industry's response to the COVID-19 crisis and its role in future pandemic ... Read the full article
Fitch removes Lloyd’s from Rating Watch Negative as underwriting improves
18th September 2020
Fitch Ratings has removed Lloyd's of London's, Lloyd's Insurance Company (China) Ltd.'s, and Lloyd's Insurance Company S.A.'s Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) Ratings from Rating Watch Negative (RWN). At the same time, Fitch has affirmed Lloyd's and its two operating subsidiaries' IFS Ratings at 'AA-' (very strong), while the outlook is stable. At ... Read the full article
Industry viewed pandemic risk through too narrow a prism: SCOR’s Kessler
17th September 2020
For the most part, pandemic had historically been viewed as a life catastrophe exposure, but the COVID-19 outbreak has shone a light on the potential impacts of a pandemic on the global property & casualty (P&C) sector. In a keynote held this morning as part of insurer and reinsurer SCOR's virtual ... Read the full article
Covéa and Swiss Re reported on verge of arbitration over COVID-19 BI claims
16th September 2020
According to reports in the French press, insurer Covéa is set to launch an arbitration with its reinsurer, Swiss Re, concerning COVID-19-related business interruption (BI) losses of at least €500 million. Reports state that both Covéa and Swiss Re are in the process of selecting their arbitrators as tensions between insurers ... Read the full article
QBE responds to UK BI test case ruling; expects to call on reinsurance
16th September 2020
In response to yesterday's ruling by the UK’s High Court that largely favoured policyholders in the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA)’s business interruption (BI) insurance test case, insurer QBE has said that it expects its reinsurance protection to limit the net cost to $70 million. In certain instances, yesterday's judgement favoured ... Read the full article
Insurers estimate additional COVID-19 BI costs after UK High Court judgement
15th September 2020
Global re/insurers have responded to the UK's High Court ruling in favour of policyholders on the majority of key issues, providing estimates for additional COVID-19 business interruption (BI) claims. Earlier today, the UK court passed its judgement on the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) BI insurance test case, ruling in favour ... Read the full article
Lloyd’s falls to H1 net loss; expects gross COVID-19 claims of $6.5bn
10th September 2020
The specialist Lloyd's of London insurance and reinsurance marketplace has reported a loss of £0.4 billion (USD 0.5bn) in the first half of 2020, as COVID-19 related claims, after reinsurance recoveries, reached £2.4 billion (USD 3.1bn). On a gross basis, Lloyd's says that it expects to pay out up to £5 ... Read the full article
SCOR very positive on hardening P&C market as it absorbs COVID-19 impacts
9th September 2020
Global reinsurer SCOR sees current P&C market conditions as very positive and is anticipating growth with solid pricing dynamics, as the company absorbs the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The French reinsurance company is the latest to note an expectation of continued rate hardening across the reinsurance sector, exacerbated by the ... Read the full article
Aon unveils coalition to support COVID-19 recovery phase
7th September 2020
As society continues to move towards the recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, insurance and reinsurance broker Aon has announced the establishment of a coalition of leading London-based businesses, designed to develop key recommendations and guidelines on how companies can operate. The London Work, Travel & Convene Coalition, convened and led ... 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
Willis Research Network & Metabiota partner on pandemic risk
19th August 2020
The Willis Research Network (WRN), a research division of the insurance and reinsurance broking group at Willis Towers Watson (WTW), has partnered with Metabiota, a risk analytics organisation that specialises in infectious diseases modelling and builing resilience to pandemics. The partnership aims to leverage Metabiota’s epidemiological data analytics capabilities to improve ... Read the full article
€2bn Italian trade credit insurance guarantee scheme approved by EC
18th August 2020
Under new EU State aid rules, the European Commission has approved a €2 billion (USD2.4billion) Italian scheme to support the trade credit insurance market throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Italy notified to the Commission a State guarantee scheme for the reinsurance of trade credit risks to support companies affected by the coronavirus ... 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