Emil Metropoulos, Senior Vice President Contact When mega-catastrophes occur, we tend to think about large-scale property damage. Until recently, hurricanes, earthquakes, and terror dominated the conversation. A new type of catastrophe has emerged, however, with the potential to cause more economic damage and perhaps even higher insured losses. Casualty catastrophes involving ... Continue Reading »
Casualty
Casualty Cat: Revealing Hidden Accumulations in Casualty Portfolios
David Lewin, Head of International Casualty Contact Casualty risk is inherently complex. Few insurers and reinsurers manage the accumulation risk in their casualty portfolios. The right tools simply have not been available to identify and analyze this unique peril. Innovation is catching up with the dangers that carriers face, though. New solutions are making the prospect of a ... Continue Reading »
Uncover and Mitigate Product Liability Risk: Avert a Casualty Catastrophe
Emil Metropoulos, Senior Vice President Contact Danger routinely enters product supply chains. An error at a plant or even a flawed product design could lead to extensive economic damage. While the direct cost of these events comes to mind first, few grasp the full extent of product liability insurance exposure. The integrated business relationships required to bring a product ... Continue Reading »
American Justice in Europe? The Rise of Class Actions
Thomas Herde, Senior Vice President, Casualty Contact Justice may be assuming a new visage in Continental Europe. American-style class action litigation is on the horizon. Judges and juries still have their respective roles to play, but the nature of the plaintiff is evolving. The “class action” concept is crossing the Atlantic, bringing with it the potential for longer and ... Continue Reading »
Cat Risk Comes Out of Hiding
Nick Frankland, CEO of European Operations Contact Few casualty risks are one-dimensional. They tend to be linked, reflecting the interconnected nature of today’s business relationships. Liability risk can follow the links among businesses as well, giving regional exposures worldwide reach. One event thus could impact a large number of insureds representing many lines of ... Continue Reading »
Push Pandemic out of Insurance
Capital Markets Provide Necessary Depth David Rains, Managing Director Contact Life carriers struggle with the notion of hedging pandemic risk. The probability of an event occurring in any particular year is low. Even if an outbreak does occur, the process for estimating losses and determining reserves is unclear. Capital approaches do not consider probabilistic tail scenario ... Continue Reading »
Don’t Step on Your Long Tail
Eddy Vanbeneden, Managing Direcor Contact With casualty reserves, it can be difficult to determine how much is too much. Unlike property reserves, which are mostly for specific known events, casualty reserves have to be sufficient to cover events that may unfold well into the future. A lot can happen in 15 or 20 years, which only serves to compound the uncertainty that casualty ... Continue Reading »
The Casualty Catastrophe Domino Effect
David Lewin, Head of International Casualty Contact Sometimes, a single incident can trigger a chain reaction. Before you realize what has happened, economic damage has mounted, and claims are being filed. Particularly surprising is that the companies being affected were not really involved in the initial event. This risk, “casualty catastrophe,” has become increasingly ... Continue Reading »
Recent Legal Developments in Continental Europe
Recent Legal Developments in Continental Europe Affecting the Casualty Industry is the latest installment in Guy Carpenter's legislative update series, designed to provide our international clients and markets with a concise overview of key trends in the Continental European legal environment. These issues have had an impact on insurers and reinsurers or are expected to have an ... Continue Reading »
Indexation Clauses in Liability Reinsurance Treaties: A Comparison Across Europe
David Lewin, Head of International Casualty Contact The Indexation Clause – otherwise referred to as the Stability Clause, Inflation Clause, or Severe Inflation Clause (SIC) – is designed to maintain the real monetary value of the retention and (where applicable) the limit under a long-tail excess of loss (XL) reinsurance treaty over the duration of the claims payout pattern. ... Continue Reading »
