Catastrophe Risks
Pandemic Drags Down Property-Casualty Insurers' First-Half Net Income
The US property-casualty insurance industry's net income dropped 26 percent in the first half of 2020, as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic began to hurt underwriting results and investment gains, according to data analytics firm Verisk and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association. Read More
NAIC Supports Federal Backstop for Pandemic Business Interruption Risk
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has voiced support for the creation of a federal pandemic risk backstop, while stressing that if the insurance sector or insurance contracts are involved, the mechanism should respect state insurance regulatory authority. The NAIC noted that pandemic risk is difficult to insure. Read More
RMS Estimates Hurricane Delta Onshore US Losses at Up to $3.5 Billion
Catastrophe risk modeling firm RMS has estimated total onshore US losses from Hurricane Delta at between $2.0 billion and $3.5 billion. The loss estimate includes losses to the National Flood Insurance Program of between $200 million and $400 million, RMS said. Read More
Government or Public-Private Pandemic Risk Backstop Warranted: Best
Given the systemic nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, proposed public-private partnerships to address its effects are warranted, according to A.M. Best. Best said that it expects significant reserve uncertainty to arise for the current accident year given the challenge insurers face to estimate ultimate losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More
Pandemic, Hard Market Showing Captives' Value in Difficult Times
Captive insurance companies are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in ways traditional insurers frequently aren't, an experience that could lead to broader use of captives to address future crises. While most traditional market business interruption policies aren't responding to the losses, many captive insurance companies provide coverages that are. Read More