coronavirus insurance impact News

P/C Insurers Improved Profitability in Year of Coronavirus: AM Best

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. property/casualty (P/C) industry improved its overall profitability in 2020, with a 68% increase in net underwriting income and combined ratio that improved slightly over the previous year. These preliminary results are from a new …

Insurer Sanlam Braces for More Virus Waves in South Africa

South Africa may still be short of the halfway mark of the pandemic even after two distinct waves of the coronavirus swept through the country over the past year. “We are basically planning for two-and-a-half more waves,” Sanlam Ltd. Chief …

Insurers Face Disputes with Their Reinsurers over UK COVID-19 Business Income Claims

Top insurance companies, ordered by Britain’s highest court to pay thousands of small businesses millions of pounds in claims for COVID-19 disruption, are facing a battle with reinsurers over who should foot the bill, industry sources said. Bars, beauty parlors, …

Italy’s Generali Expects to Hit 2021 Targets After Reporting ‘Excellent’ Results in 2020

MILAN – Generali is confident it can hit its targets this year after Italy’s biggest insurer overcame a negative impact from the coronavirus crisis in 2020 to deliver a record operating profit. Operating profit, which is closely watched by the …

Total Pandemic Losses for P/C Insurers Will Take Years to Determine: Fitch

Incurred pandemic losses for U.S. property/casualty insurers increased only modestly in fourth quarter of 2020 from earlier quarters in the year. Still, the amount of ultimate losses remains unclear and will take several years to determine in business interruption, general …

Insurer Aviva Seeks New London Headquarters to Cut Post-Pandemic Office Footprint

Aviva Plc is searching for a new City of London headquarters as the UK insurer prepares to slash its office footprint. The firm started looking for new offices in the financial district early last year, but shelved its plans once …

Insurers Don’t Have Capacity to Handle Systemic Pandemic Risk: Generali CEO

MILAN – Europe’s insurance industry doesn’t have the capacity to deal with the systemic risk of a pandemic and more protection needs to be put in place through private-public partnerships, the head of Italian insurer Generali said on Thursday. Speaking …

Hiscox Cites Loss on COVID, BI Dispute ‘Brand Damage’; Will Alter Liability, Cyber Books

British insurer Hiscox reported a big loss for 2020 after a jump in claims from businesses disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and also faces “brand damage” from a legal dispute over policy wordings for pandemic-linked claims. Hiscox shares plunged 13% …

Lloyd’s Plans to Re-Open Underwriting Room on May 17

Lloyd’s announced on Friday, Feb. 26 that it plans to re-open its London underwriting room and corporation offices on May 17. To manage capacity and ensure the market is COVID-secure, it will once again apply a class of business rota …

Munich Re’s 2020 Profit Drops 55% on COVID-19-Related Reinsurance Claims of $4.1B

Munich Re reported a profit of €1.21 billion (US1.47 billion) for 2020, a 55% decline from the €2.71 billion (US$3.29 billion) reported for the previous year. The reinsurer’s Q4 2020 profit dropped to €212 million (US$258 million) from €217 million …