1. January 1, 2020, Reinsurance Renewals – Property Catastrophe: Pricing corrections in the property catastrophe reinsurance market over the last few years have been localized, and mitigated to some extent by sufficient levels of capacity. These traits, along with the fact that the mix of loss-affected and non-loss-affected business up for renewal at January 1 is more diverse than at mid-year, created a wide range of outcomes, including within regions.
2. Insurance-Linked Securities Market Outlook: The catastrophe bond market demonstrated critical resiliency during 2019 and delivered ample capacity at a time when it was most needed, according to Shiv Kumar, CEO of MMC Securities.
3. January 1, 2020, Reinsurance Renewal – Key Takeaways: Guy Carpenter this month released its briefing on the 2020 reinsurance market renewal environment. Here are the key takeaways from our analysis of the renewal.
4. The Novel Coronavirus May Damage Aviation More Than SARS: Since December, the novel coronavirus that began in the Chinese megacity of Wuhan has infected more than 80,000 people and killed nearly 3,000. The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency, and the United States has temporarily banned entry from most foreign nationals coming from China, according to Khalid Usman, Senior Vice President in Oliver Wyman’s Transportation Practice and Douglas Carlucci, Partner in Oliver Wyman’s Transportation and Digital Practices.
5. Global Risks Report 2020 – Macroeconomic Risk Factors: During the last decade, moderate but stable growth has given way to what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called a “synchronized slowdown” — weakened growth among the world’s economies. Last year’s Global Risks Report, produced by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in partnership with Marsh & McLennan and Zurich Insurance Group, cautioned that a gradual deceleration was underway, and the evidence suggests that, since then, the slowdown of the world economy has further materialized.
6. Outbreaks, Epidemics, and Pandemics – Preparedness and Response Strategies: Over the last century, tens of millions of lives have been claimed by pandemics, epidemics, and outbreaks that also have wreaked havoc on businesses and damaged national economies. Outbreaks, Epidemics, and Pandemics: Preparedness and Response Strategies, a report from Guy Carpenter-affiliate Marsh, identifies the main challenges that organizations may face during the novel coronavirus health emergency and other outbreaks and looks at actions that risk professionals can take to mitigate these risks.
7. Global Risks Report 2020 – Climate Realities: According to the 2020 Global Risks Report, the near-term consequences of climate change add up to a “planetary emergency”. Implications are catastrophic, wide-ranging and intersecting. Worse still, the complexity of the climate system means that some impacts are still unknown.
8. CAT-i Report – Australia Bushfires: Bushfire activity in the last few months has rendered significant impacts to portions of Australia, and especially so in recent weeks with severe impacts reported in New South Wales. The bushfire activity has caused devastating impacts to human life, property, infrastructure, and wildlife.
9. 2020 AFP Risk Survey – Cybersecurity Continues to Dominate Risk Landscape: While cyber risk flew under the radar 10 years ago, today it’s a top concern. In a survey of nearly 365 treasury and financial professionals, 53 percent of respondents reported that cybersecurity risk is currently the most challenging risk to manage, and the majority believe it will continue to be for the next three years.
10. 2020 State of the Financial Services Industry Report: Financial institutions in 2020 face a big challenge: creating the business of the future from the legacy they have today. The latest edition of Oliver Wyman’s State of the Financial Services Industry report explores how pressure is building to deliver on investment programs and how we believe winning firms will manage the collision between vision and value.
