catastrophe

Reinsurance firm Swiss Re has estimated the impact of recent hailstorms in Germany and outs the industry-wide insured loss total at between $2 billion and $2.7 billion, while its own loss burden is estimated at $240 million, net of retrocession and before tax.

French reinsurer SCOR has suggested that the insurance industry loss from recent catastrophic hail storms in Germany could reach as much as EUR3 billion. That is significantly higher than earlier estimates from risk modellers who put the loss at up to EUR1.5 billion.

Last week we wrote that commercial property policy owners in Louisiana were to begin to feel the benefits of cheaper property catastrophe reinsurance as Louisiana Citizens promised to pass on some of its reinsurance savings. Now a major Florida homeowners insurer is planning to do the same.

In what could prove to be one of the most important developments in the catastrophe reinsurance market in some time, Property Claim Services (PCS) has announced that it is working with the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange (CSX) on an initiative to launch exchange traded catastrophe derivatives on the CSX.

Brit Group, the global specialty insurer and reinsurer with a large presence at Lloyd’s, is aiming to increase its penetration into the global reinsurance market with the opening of an office in Bermuda, targeting expansion for its distribution network and focusing on catastrophe risks.

Demonstrating another way that institutional investors and capital markets money can make its way into the reinsurance sector, underwriting agency Pioneer Underwriting is launching a property catastrophe reinsurance startup with the help of backing from a range of investors.

Severe weather in Germany is again impacting insurers and reinsurers in 2013, as two severe hailstorm events in the country look set to create up to $2 billion of losses for insurers. Hail once again proves itself as a major cause of losses for the insurance and reinsurance industry.

A new research program, launched by scientists at Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) alongside insurance, reinsurance and insurance-linked securities sector companies, aims to quantify any shifts in hazard patterns for severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and hail in the U.S.

According to data released by Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development center of excellence at reinsurance broker Aon Benfield, the first-half of 2013 saw natural catastrophes cause $85 billion of economic losses, with around 24% insured leaving an insurance industry catastrophe loss of approximately $20 billion.

One of Bank of America’s leading re/insurance sector analysts Jay A. Cohen downgraded Bermuda based global insurance and reinsurance group AXIS Capital Holdings Limited from Buy to Neutral in a report published yesterday. The analyst becomes the latest to cite reinsurance pricing pressures as a potential earnings headwind.