Emil Metropoulos, Senior Vice President
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We excerpt here from the recently published Marsh report: Terrorism Risk Insurance 2010, the section authored by Guy Carpenter’s Emil Metropoulos.

Commercial insurers are strongly supportive of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA), as it provides them an ultimate safety net for their terrorism exposures. However, the residual risk for terror events retained by insurers below the triggers and retention levels set by the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 (TRIPRA), coupled with the relatively high cost of reinsurance in key exposure zones, means that insurers remain cautious about terrorism exposure. As a result, they continue to avoid accumulating high-profile urban exposures.

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David Rains, FSA, MAAA, Managing Director and Head of Life, Accident & Health Specialty
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Medical

The passage of health reform in the United States has put medical insurers in the challenging position of trying to understand how to manage unlimited lifetime claim maximums. In the short term, annual caps on payments are still allowed, easing the transition, but this change creates increased risk for insurers as volatility is increased and rate-making is necessarily based on assumptions rather than experience. We are seeing increased demand for high attachment medical excess reinsurance with high limits - many clients are looking for unlimited cover to match their required offering. This may create an excellent opportunity for reinsurers willing to step up to the challenge. Many are offering limits from USD10 million to USD20 million attaching at excess of USD5 million. A few reinsurers have come forward with unlimited coverage. Pricing is varying widely between carriers but should begin to converge for the very high attachments.

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