natural catastrophes News

Reinsurance Capacity Remains Abundant for Mid-Year Renewals: Aon Benfield

Global reinsurer capital continued to rise in 2017, despite the US$136 billion in insured losses from natural catastrophes last year, according to a reinsurance market report published by Aon Benfield. Indeed, capital levels stood at US$605 billion at Dec. 31, …

Everest Re Expects Q1 Catastrophe Losses of $100M on Rising California Wildfire Claims

Everest Re Group Ltd. estimates it will incur $100 million of catastrophe losses, net of reinsurance recoverables and reinstatement premiums, in the first quarter of 2018, largely arising from the California wildfires and related events. Everest said its original loss …

Natural Disasters Cost Insurers a Record $144 Billion in 2017: Swiss Re’s sigma

Global insured losses from natural catastrophes were US$144 billion in 2017, the highest-ever recorded in a single year, according to the latest sigma study from the Swiss Re Institute. The biggest losses came from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria (HIM), …

U.S. March Storms Cost Economy $3B; Argentina, Uruguay Drought $4B: Aon Report

A series of winter storms and severe weather in the United States during March brought economic damages of US$3 billion, with public and private insurers covering roughly two-thirds of the cost, according to a report published by Impact Forecasting, Aon …

January Windstorms to Cost Europe’s Insurers More Than $2B: Aon

European windstorms Friederike, Eleanor and Carmen wreaked widespread damage in January, causing insured losses of more than $2 billion, according to a report published by Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model development team. Of the Atlantic storm systems that hit …

Cyber Incidents Most Feared BI Trigger for Global Companies: Allianz Risk Report

Business interruption and cyber incidents interlink as the major threat facing companies over the coming year, according to a report published by Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS). Allianz revealed that business interruption – including supply chain disruption – ranks …

Insurance Protection Gap Is Growing Global Problem; Swiss Re, RenRe & WTW Comment

The insurance protection gap. It’s a phrase that will be increasingly heard over the coming years – because it is getting bigger. The protection gap is the difference between insured losses and total economic losses. The protection gap, or those …

Top Insurance Journal South Central Stories of 2017

Among the most read news stories in Insurance Journal’s South Central region during 2017 concerned Hurricane Harvey and Texas hailstorm (aka natural catastrophe insurance claims) legislation. The insurance industry in Texas for years has been pushing for legislation aimed at …

Loss Estimate for October 2016 Italian Quakes Rises to US$244.4M: PERILS

The property insurance market’s losses from the series of earthquakes to hit Central Italy between Oct. 26 and Oct. 30, 2016 has risen to €208 million (US$244.4 million), according to PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organization that provides industry wide catastrophe …

Extreme Rainfall Could Cost South Asian Cities Up to $215B Annually by 2030

As global attention focused on hurricanes Harvey and Irma, more than 41 million people across South Asia battled floods and displacement. From Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east, floods could cost South Asia — home to a …