protection gap News

AXA’s Duverne Named Chairman of Insurance Development Forum, Replacing Catlin

The Insurance Development Forum (IDF) announced the appointment of Denis Duverne as chair of its Steering Committee, succeeding Stephen Catlin, effective Sept. 11, 2018. The IDF is a public-private partnership, led by a senior insurance industry executive and supported by …

ILS Issuance in H1 Tops $7B, Reflecting Capital Markets’ Re/Insurance Appetite: Swiss Re

The first half of 2018 aptly demonstrated that the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market has an undiminished appetite to provide re/insurance protection – despite last year’s expensive insured natural catastrophe losses, according to Swiss Re Institute’s sigma publication While not quite …

Sustainable Re/Insurance Industry Vital in Uncertain World: Swiss Re’s Ojeisekhoba

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore described it as “the first taste of a bitter cup that will be proffered to us over and over again.” That devastating event killed more than 1,800 people and …

Zurich’s Flood Resilience Alliance Extended to Generate Additional Funding of $1B

Zurich Insurance Group announced that after five successful years its flood resilience alliance will be extended until 2023. In the last five years, a multi-sector alliance comprising the non-governmental organization (NGO) sector, academia and Zurich’s risk management experts has focused …

Cat Facility CCRIF Welcomes 2 New Members: British Virgin Islands, Montserrat

CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) announced that British Virgin Islands and Montserrat have joined the facility and purchased coverage for the 2018/19 policy year, beginning June 1. Both countries obtained tropical cyclone and excess rainfall policies …

Climate Change Worsens Effects of Natural Disasters, Costing Farmers Billions of Dollars

Natural disasters from droughts to floods are costing farmers in poorer countries billions of dollars a year in lost crops and livestock, and it’s getting worse thanks to climate change. Agricultural losses from weather events in developing nations totaled $96 …

WTW’s New Global Ecosystem Resilience Facility Provides Finance, Risk Mgmt Solutions

Willis Towers Watson, the London-based advisory, broking and solutions company, has developed the Global Ecosystem Resilience Facility (GERF), which it describes as the first global insurance facility to provide finance and risk management solutions to build the resilience of ecosystems …

UK Invests in Natural Disaster Hedge Fund Focused on Insurance for Developing Nations

Britain is backing a hedge fund that aims to raise $200 million to give developing countries access to climate risk insurance. Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) is investing 25 million pounds ($35 million) over a 20-year period in the …

Aon Securities Structures Largest-Ever Earthquake Catastrophe Bond for World Bank

Aon Securities, the investment banking division of reinsurance intermediary and capital adviser Aon Benfield, has assisted the World Bank in structuring the largest-ever catastrophe bond covering earthquake, which provides the organization with US$1.36 billion of capital markets’ protection. The bond …

India Flags Low Health Insurance Penetration as Damper to Growth

India’s push toward universal health care has Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political opponents worried, a top government adviser said. Modi’s government announced a plan last week to provide health insurance to 100 million poor families, which would cover about 40 …