Excessively hot temperatures in recent days have created favorable conditions for the growth of numerous ongoing fires in the western United States as well as the ignition and spread of several new fires. A cold front has begun to bring cooler temperatures and precipitation in the form of both rain and snow to parts of the Mountain West but is also increasing wind speeds ... Continue Reading »
Property
Guy Carpenter Launches Probabilistic Indonesia Flood Model
Guy Carpenter announced the launch of its new Indonesia Flood Model. The fully probabilistic model provides countrywide coverage and enables insurers to assess their exposure to floods, the most frequently occurring natural peril in the country. ... Continue Reading »
Political Risk Map 2020: Mid-Year Update
Terrorism, political violence and other malicious acts differ from other insurable perils in that they are dynamic and adaptive; there is human intent driving the probability and willing the impacts to change. Historic incidents show past trends, but those are only partial drivers of future trends as terrorists adapt their tactics in response to past effectiveness and current ... Continue Reading »
Typhoon Haishen/Maysak – Korean Peninsula & Japan
Typhoon Haishen is an escalating threat to portions of Japan and the Korean Peninsula over the coming days, with the threat of destructive winds and heavy rainfall. This threat comes after Typhoon Maysak followed a similar track earlier in the week, with reports of heavy rainfall and inland flooding, and wind damage with downed trees and powerlines. Typhoon Haishen is ... Continue Reading »
Hurricane Nana Makes Landfall in Belize
Hurricane Nana intensified to a minimal category-1 hurricane in the western Caribbean Sea late Wednesday, hours before making landfall on the coast of Belize between the cities of Dangriga and Placencia, 50 miles south of Belize City. After landfall, Nana has moved inland across Belize with the primary threat of heavy rainfall in mountainous areas of Belize, Honduras and ... Continue Reading »
Parametric Insurance Can Boost Resilience for the Public Sector
In the wake of a natural disaster, traditional insurance can help restore insured assets to their status prior to the loss. It may not always be desirable, however, to restore a situation that led to a vulnerable state in the first place. The public may want — and need — to create new approaches to urban planning, construction or water management that leverage lessons from the d ... Continue Reading »
Global Risks for Infrastructure: The Climate Challenge
As climate change and the associated increase in natural catastrophe events alters the contemporary risk landscape, there is now an opportunity for governments to partner with the (re)insurance market and put its expertise to work. Infrastructure investors need to adopt a dynamic and evolving approach to building climate risk resilience, according to a recent report from ... Continue Reading »
Standard & Poor’s Outlook on COVID-19 Part Four: Stress Testing
Standard & Poor's (S&P) continues to refresh its asset stress test, which reflects real-time insights on rating migration and default risk. The reinsurance, property & casualty (P&C) and life teams all conducted asset stress tests as the markets were starting to show dislocation in late February, as well as in mid-March, when the equity market was close to its ... Continue Reading »
Catastrophic and Historic Hurricane Laura Makes Louisiana Landfall as Category-4
Hurricane Laura made landfall last night over southwest Louisiana with destructive winds, storm surge and heavy rainfall. Maximum sustained winds at landfall were 150 mph according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), a significant category-4 hurricane . The center of circulation moved inland near Cameron, Louisiana around 2 AM EDT. Laura is now a category-2 ... Continue Reading »
Mid-Year 2020 Reinsurance Renewal: Guy Carpenter U.S. Property Catastrophe Rate-On-Line (ROL) Index
The U.S. property catastrophe Rate on Line (ROL) index for January through July renewals was up 12 percent year-on-year. Pricing pressures have built through the course of the year: The mid-year data point represents a larger increase than what was recorded at January 1. Wind and wildfire-exposed programs once again played a prominent role in driving the index higher, with ... Continue Reading »
