contingent business interruption

Insurance carriers potentially affected by today’s judgement in the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA)’s business interruption insurance test case, are suggesting their reinsurance, including catastrophe covers, will provide support.

The UK High Court has found largely in favour of insurance policyholders in the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA)’s business interruption insurance test case.

RSA Group, the UK based insurance group, has warned reinsurers signed up to its Group Volatility Cover (GVC) and catastrophe reinsurance that it hopes to be able to pass on Covid-19 pandemic related losses, above certain levels, to each of those programs.

Currently, bottom-up Covid-19 pandemic loss announcements from insurance and reinsurance companies stand at only around $6 billion, some way short of the wide ranging $30 billion to $100 billion industry loss estimates and broker Willis Re warns it will likely take years to catch up which has ramifications for the ILS market.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), one of the key financial market regulators and part of the Bank of England, is to run a test case to help establish the validity of business interruption claims from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund managers and reinsurance companies managing third-party capital are likely to see continuing volatility in terms of investor inflows and outflows, as the broader implications of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to emerge.

The United States Treasury has shown in a letter that it is opposed to legislative moves that could force retroactive business interruption claims related to the Covid-19 pandemic onto the insurance and reinsurance industry.

The Covid-19 pandemic is unlike anything else ever encountered by the re/insurance industry and will be a headwind for future reinsurance capacity, according to AIG’s Global Chief Operating Officer and CEO of General Insurance Peter Zaffino.

A new report from A.M. Best highlights the potential damage that any legislative moves to force retroactive business interruption claims into the insurance and reinsurance industry could cause, saying that as much as 50% of re/insurer capital could be wiped out with just two months worth of claims.

The insurance and reinsurance industry is likely facing a larger industry loss from the Covid-19 pandemic than it experienced with the 2001 World Trade Center event, but at the extreme tail-end of probabilities the impact to the market could reach $140 billion, Willis Towers Watson warned today.