Archive for June, 2011

Sixteen tranches of outstanding catastrophe bond transactions were placed on CreditWatch negative on the 18th April as a result of the updated hurricane risk model launched by Risk Management Solutions (RMS). Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s placed the notes on watch while it assessed the impact to the cat bonds risk profile and trigger points.

Standard & Poor’s has suggested that primary insurers based or operating in New Zealand could see some of their reinsurance rates as much as triple for property catastrophe reinsurance cover as reinsurers hike prices to claw back losses experienced throughout the first half of this year. Reinsurance capacity is available, Said S&P, but the reinsurers […]

A research paper due to be published this month in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society suggests that routine variations in the weather, such as rainfall and cooler or hotter than average days, can result in an annual cost to the U.S. economy of $485 billion.

Here’s some interesting weekend reading for extreme weather buffs courtesy of Dr. Jeff Masters from the Weather Underground. Dr. Masters has put together a review of the severe weather events which affected the world during 2010 and also discusses 2011 events such as the severe weather recently experienced in the U.S.

The Japanese Cabinet office has released an estimate this morning for the economic property losses caused by the 11th March earthquake and tsunami disaster. They estimate that the quake and tsunami destroyed buildings and infrastructure worth around $210 billion. The estimate excludes any costs related to the Fukushima nuclear disaster aside from damage to the […]

The perceived risk of catastrophes occurring in New Zealand has risen so much that reinsurance rates could more than triple for some New Zealand only placements at the 1st July renewals said Standard & Poor’s in a report yesterday. Reinsurance capacity is available but the ball is in the reinsurers court and they are likely […]

Net underwriting losses for U.S. property/casualty insurers grew to $4.5 billion in Q1 2011 from $1.8 billion a year earlier as their combined ratio deteriorated to 103.3% according to figures from the ISO and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).

Renewal rates for property catastrophe reinsurance programs underwritten by Bermuda based reinsurers have been rising at 1st June according to research from analyst firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. In a recent trip to Bermuda the firm saw rates rising by an average of 8% to 12% and they say the outlook is for ‘ongoing […]

Aon Benfield have issued a report analysing the severe thunderstorms and tornadoes which swept across the U.S. midwest, southeast and plains during April and May causing widespread damage and destruction. They identify at least eight separate outbreaks with five of them causing at least $1 billion in losses. Their estimate of insured losses of $15 […]

There’s a very interesting article on the Insurance Day website in which they quote from Willis Chairman and CEO Joe Plumeri’s recent speech at the Insurance Day Summit Bermuda event. In his speech, which you can read in full on the Willis website, Plumeri highlighted the dire financial state of the U.S. federal governments finances […]