Research and Trends News

Global Reinsurers Could Be Greatly Underestimating Exposure to Climate Risk: S&P

Reinsurers’ estimates of their exposure to natural catastrophe risk could be underestimated by 33%-50%, according to a report published by S&P Global Ratings. “Unmodeled risks and the inherent difficulties in attributing extreme events to climate change create the risk that …

Private Flood Insurance Market Small But May Grow With New NFIP Rating: AM Best

The country’s flood insurance market is slowly transitioning toward private insurers providing additional options to the federal government’s program for those seeking coverage, according to a new AM Best report. But private sector carriers are being selective, tending to avoid …

Insurance M&A Activity Slowed in P/C Sector in First Half of 2021

Merger and acquisition activity increased in the first half of 2021 in most insurance sectors but not in the property/casualty sector. According to Deloitte’s Midyear Insurance M&A Outlook, the number of M&A deals is up 18 percent year-to-date and aggregate …

Social Inflation or Science: What Is Fueling Climate Litigation?

A rising amount of litigation tied to the environmental and health impacts of greenhouse gas emissions prompted a question from the leader of a liability risk analytics company recently: “Is it about climate liability or the liability climate?” Robert Reville, …

Robots Take Over More Jobs Where Humans Are Aging

It turns out robots are taking over jobs fastest around the world in places where their human counterparts are aging the most rapidly. That is the conclusion of a new study that looked at demographic and industry-level data in 60 …

UK Insurers Cautiously Willing to Underwrite Fire Safety Risks for High-Rise Recladding Projects: Survey

Insurers have revealed a cautious willingness to underwrite fire safety risks on new projects to remove defective cladding from high rise buildings. Around two-thirds of respondents to a survey by the International Underwriting Association (IUA) stated they would provide a …

Reinsurers Face Major Claims Uncertainties, but Reap Benefits of Pricing Tailwinds

A principal negative factor affecting the reinsurance industry is the large amount of claims uncertainty, but positive tailwinds are offsetting these negative headwinds, creating a stable outlook for the sector into 2022, according to Carlos Wong-Fupuy, senior director, AM Best. …

P/C Mutual Insurers Continued to Grow Premiums in 2020 Despite Givebacks

U.S. P/C mutual insurance companies held their own in 2020 despite returning significant levels of premiums during the pandemic. In fact, net premiums written grew by 1.4 percent even with all the givebacks, according to a new AM Best report. …

Most Commercial Lines Continuing to Win Healthy Price Increases

While aggregate U.S. commercial insurance price hikes continue to moderate, most lines are still producing robust price increases, according to Willis Towers Watson. Excess/umbrella produces significant price increases during the 2021 second quarter. As well commercial auto, property, and directors …

What Smart People Get Wrong About Climate Change Extremes: Opinion

If anyone should be attuned to the real-world impacts of global warming, it’s the policy makers and business heads that have to deal with the fallout. But even the most well-intentioned can fail to grasp just how bad things could …