natural catastrophes News

Just 2% of China’s July Floods Covered by Insurance, vs. Nearly 70% in U.S.: Aon

China’s seasonal “Mei-Yu” rainfall in July led to the worst flooding since 1998, bringing total combined economic losses of an estimated US$33 billion, according to a report published by Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model development team. Affecting the Yangtze …

Global Insured Losses Hit $30B in 1H 2016, 30% of Economic Losses: Aon Benfield

Preliminary global economic losses reached US$98 billion during the first half of 2016, while global insured losses hit US$30 billion – their highest levels since 2011, according to Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model development team. These losses – economic …

Storms & Earthquakes Drive Up Insured Losses in 1H 2016: Munich Re

Economic losses caused by natural catastrophes in the first half of 2016 totaled US$70 billion, a significant increase from the $59 billion reported for the first half of last year, according to a loss review issued by Munich Re. While …

Insurers, Banks & Pension Funds ‘Must Address’ Climate Risk Exposures

The world’s insurers, banks and pension funds are “inherently susceptible” to threats from climate change and must make adjustments, from shifting investment toward environmentally friendly industries to revamping strategies to reduce risk, said the Global Risk Institute. “Climate change is …

Global Flood Events Rack Up $5B in Economic Costs in June: Aon Report

Major floods across the globe during June – topped by events in China and the U.S. – are expected to bring economic costs in excess of US$5.0 billion, according to Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model development team. Seasonal “Mei-Yu” …

Global Insurance Premiums up 3.8% in 2015, Despite Trade Slowdown: Swiss Re

Despite a challenging business environment and global trade slowdown in 2015, global direct premiums written grew by 3.8 percent in real terms, up from 3.5 percent in 2014, according to Swiss Re’s latest sigma report. However, in nominal US dollar …

Allianz Expects Blockchain Tech to Expedite Cat Bond Deals

German insurer Allianz expects the technology underpinning virtual currency bitcoin to encourage trading in catastrophe bonds, which transfer the risk of natural disasters such as hurricanes to investors. “Cat bond” payments between insurers and investors can take weeks or even …

Climate Change Will Raise the Cost of Canada’s Natural Disasters: Insurers

Canada will have to set aside more money to deal with natural disasters like wildfires, storms and floods as climate change starts to bite, the head of the country’s property insurance industry group said on Wednesday. A wildfire sweeping through …

Re/Insurance CEOs Join Insurance Development Forum, UN & World Bank Initiative

A group of re/insurance and global broking CEOs are assisting the work of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF), which was launched last month to help build resilience to climate risk and natural disasters, while bridging the insurance protection gap for …

PERILS Joins Singapore’s NatCatDAX, Aiming to Close Asia Nat Cat Protection Gap

PERILS, the Zurich-based independent organization providing industry-wide catastrophe insurance data, announced it has joined the Singapore-based Natural Catastrophe Data and Analytics Exchange (NatCatDAX) Alliance, which has been set up to help increase data availability for natural catastrophe insurance in Asia. …