Catastrophe Risks
Google Parent Explores Captive-Sponsored Catastrophe Bond Solution
Alphabet, Inc., is reportedly in the process of sponsoring a $237.5 million captive-sponsored catastrophe bond to cover its California earthquake exposure. A story on the Artemis.bm website explains that Alphabet will use its Hawaii-domiciled captive insurance company, Imi Assurance, Inc., to act as fronting insurer for the risk. Read More
Pandemic Disruptions Highlight Need for Supply Chain Resilience
As the world grapples with new spikes of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's important to consider the disruptions such global crises can cause to organizations' supply chains. The COVID-19 pandemic created severe disruptions for many organizations' supply chains, and it's likely that a similarly disruptive event will occur in the future. Read More
US Property-Casualty Insurers Facing Post-Pandemic Challenges, Fitch Says
US property-casualty insurers will continue to face new operational and risk management challenges from pandemic-related insurance losses and premium volume declines in 2021, according to Fitch Ratings. Insurers able to manage the challenges of workforce flexibility, limit risk aggregations, and reduce claims exposures will be best positioned, Fitch said. Read More
Benefits Captives' Value Grows with Rising Medical Costs and COVID-19
Continued increases in medical costs coupled with the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic create significant stressors for employers providing healthcare benefits. Increasingly, including a captive insurance company in some employee benefits offerings can be a sound strategy for many of those employers. Read More
AIR Estimates Hurricane Zeta Insured Losses at Up to $3.5 Billion
Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that insured losses to onshore property resulting from Hurricane Zeta's wind and storm surge will range from $1.5 billion to $3.5 billion. AIR said that at landfall Zeta was a high-end Category 2 storm with 1-minute sustained wind speeds of 110 mph. Read More