1. January 1, 2020 Reinsurance Renewals Reflect Asymmetrical Market: Reinsurance renewals at January 1, 2020, were shaped by deteriorating loss experience, a lack of new capital inflows and increasingly challenged environments in the primary insurance and retrocession markets, according to Guy Carpenter.
2. CAT-i Report on Australia Bushfires – January 8, 2020: 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.
3. Chart – Global Property Catastrophe ROL Index: The Guy Carpenter Global Property Catastrophe Rate on Line (ROL) index is presented for 1990 through 2020.
4. 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.
5. January 1, 2020 Reinsurance Renewals – Retrocession: Reinsurers have ceded increased levels of premium into the retrocession market in recent years by leveraging strong market competition brought by new capital inflows. However, the environment in the retrocession market was challenged at January 1, 2020, characterized by trapped capital, a lack of new capital and continued redemptions from third-party providers.
6. 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.
7. CAT-i Report – Southern Australia Hailstorms: Severe thunderstorm activity affected large parts of Victoria, Canberra, Sydney and South-East Queensland from January 19-21. The storms produced large hail, damaging winds and flash flooding in many areas across these states.
8. 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.
9. 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 24,000 people and killed almost 500. 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.
10. Review of Silent Cyber Coverage on GC Capital Ideas: Here are the recent stories that GC Capital Ideas has presented on silent cyber, also known as unintended or non-affirmative coverage, the unknown or unquantified exposures stemming from cyber perils that may be triggered within traditional property and liability insurance policies.
