catastrophe

The Philippines has long been the focus of disaster risk financing and insurance discussions, given its exposure to typhoons, earthquakes, fires, rainfall, floods and drought, and now the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is examining options for disaster insurance facilities.

2016 was the most active catastrophe year since 1980 in the U.S. as 43 PCS-designated cat events incurred insured damages of around $21 billion, according to the PCS full-year 2016 Catastrophe Review.

Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe risk modelling unit of reinsurance broker Aon Benfield, has said that severe weather and flooding in the U.S. in January is expected to result in an insurance and reinsurance industry loss in the billions of dollars.

A new climate index developed by the Climate Change Committee reveals the frequency of extreme weather events in the U.S. & Canada continues to rise, suggesting the potential for increased re/insurance industry losses, a trend supported by data from insurance and reinsurance brokerage group, Aon.

At $54 billion global insured catastrophe losses in 2016 were the highest since 2012, driven by earthquakes, severe weather, flooding, and tropical cyclones, according to Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe risk-modelling unit of reinsurance broker Aon Benfield.

Natural catastrophe losses have soared to a four year high after devastating earthquakes and powerful storms shook the globe in 2016, lifting insured catastrophe losses for the year to $50 billion, according to Munich Re.

Insurance and reinsurance industry losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disaster events during 2016 are expected to come out at around $49 billion by Swiss Re, up by 33% on 2015 but slightly below the 10-year average.

The Vietnam Ministry of Finance and the World Bank in Vietnam, at a workshop on disaster risk finance and insurance, discussed the need for a financial protection strategy to better protect the country and its residents against the financial and social impacts of natural disasters.

The reinsurance industry needs to get better at promoting the value of its catastrophe products to buyers, thinks Dominic Christian, Executive Chairman, Aon Benfield International. Property catastrophe reinsurance plays a vital societal role as well as generating significant premiums for the industry, he told Artemis ahead of the Rendez-Vous de Septembre in Monte Carlo.

An increase in catastrophe activity during the first-half of 2016 across the U.S. resulted in insured losses of $13.5 billion, which is 20% higher than the ten-year historical average, according to Property Claim Services (PCS).