natural catastrophe

The insurance and reinsurance industry is set to find itself paying for an estimated $2 billion of losses due to severe thunderstorm, or convective storm, weather and resulting hail damage and floods in March, according to broker Aon.

In 2015 only $37 billion or 40% of global catastrophe and man-made disaster losses were covered by insurance and reinsurance, according to Swiss Re, representing a coverage gap of 60% and presenting an opportunity to the industry.

New research into the global impacts of El Niño conditions claims to assist with the optimisation of climate risk pooling facilities, providing an opportunity for insurers, reinsurers, and insurance-linked securities (ILS) players to expand their reach and diversify.

Natural catastrophe and severe weather events during the summer months in Australia have now caused over AUD $550 million (USD $415m) of insurance and perhaps reinsurance industry losses, according to the Insurance Council of Australia.

According to reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter the twin effects of El Niño and the North Atlantic Oscillation were key drivers of climate in 2015, but even with these effects the insurance and reinsurance industry only suffered $30.5 billion of industry losses.

Economic losses caused by catastrophe and weather events in the U.S. in February 2016 are expected to surpass $1 billion, while the insurance and reinsurance industry will deal with losses “well into the hundreds of millions (USD)” according to broker Aon.

Severe winter weather has resulted in over $4 billion of economic losses around the globe in January 2016, with at least $2 billion resulting from the severe winter storm that impacted the U.S. northeast, according to Aon.

The recent spate of natural catastrophes and severe weather events in Australia are set to cost the insurance and perhaps reinsurance industry over AUD $515 million (USD $355m+), according to the Insurance Council of Australia.

2015’s catastrophe, natural disaster and severe weather events around the globe resulted in insurance and reinsurance industry losses of $35 billion, which is 31% below the 15 year average of $51 billion and the lowest annual insured loss since 2009.

The significant winter storm events in the UK and U.S. have contributed to one of the largest single month catastrophe insurance and reinsurance loss bills in recent times, with December set to see an insurance bill of at least $4 billion.