Hurricane Dorian was a long-lived and historic storm that rendered impacts from the Caribbean to Atlantic Canada between August 24 and September 7. It is evident from media reports that the most severe impacts occurred in the northwestern Bahamas where complete destruction of property and infrastructure was reported in Grand Bahama and Abaco Islands. The full scope and severity ... Continue Reading »
Wildfire Risk and Underwriting Strategy – GC@MC Commentary
In 2018, California suffered its most costly and deadly fire season to date. The year’s costliest insured loss event was California’s Camp Fire at USD 12 billion — also the most destructive fire in the state’s history. Additionally in 2018, over 100 people perished in wildfires in Greece; British Columbia, Canada, suffered its worst wildfire season in history; in Australia, bush ... Continue Reading »
Terror: The Role of Technology and Analytics – GC@MC Commentary
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 »
Weather Sentinel: Historic Typhoon Faxai strikes Tokyo
Early Monday morning, September 9 (3AM local time), Typhoon Faxai made landfall with maximum sustained 1-minute winds of 105 mph, a minimum central pressure of 955 mb in Chiba prefecture of the Kanto region of Japan, just east of Tokyo. An equivalent category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, Chiba is one of the stronger typhoons to hit Tokyo in recorded history. ... Continue Reading »
Structured Capital Partnerships: An Evolution of the P&C Reinsurance Business Model – GC@MC Commentary
Over the past two decades, alternative capital has grown to represent almost a quarter of the total reinsurance industry capital. Insurance-linked securities (ILS), sidecars and collateralized reinsurance continue to provide valuable capacity to (re)insurers, corporates, and public sector entities to efficiently manage capital and risk alongside traditional market solutions, ... Continue Reading »
IFRS 17 and the Value of Reinsurance: An Opportunity in the Challenge – GC@MC Commentary
International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 17, issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, is the new financial reporting standard for insurance contracts that will replace the current rules of IFRS 4 and will become effective on January 1, 2022. IFRS 17 will impact the insurance value chain far beyond the areas of actuarial modeling and financial reporting. ... Continue Reading »
Looking Beyond the Clouds: A Cyber Insurance Industry Catastrophe Loss Study – GC@MC Commentary
Because it is essential to develop a deep understanding of the characteristics of cyber catastrophe events and the financial impact they could have on the standalone cyber insurance market as it exists today, CyberCube Analytics (1) and Guy Carpenter have collaborated to help (re)insurers quantify cyber risk by pooling data resources and analytics capabilities to cultivate a ... Continue Reading »
Guy Carpenter Appoints David Priebe Chairman
Guy Carpenter today announced a key leadership change to further its growth strategy. David Priebe has been appointed to the role of Chairman of Guy Carpenter, effective immediately. Mr. Priebe will continue to report to Guy Carpenter's President and CEO, Peter Hearn, and will continue as a member of the company's Executive Committee. ... Continue Reading »
The Changing Nature of Risk – GC@MC Commentary
In a report published this month by Guy Carpenter, we analyze how an accumulation of losses from recent extreme weather events, the specter of climate change and higher loss cost trends in a number of long-tail business lines are forcing carriers to reassess views of risk. Capital inflow levels and risk appetites are responding accordingly, according to Robert Bentley, CEO, ... Continue Reading »
Market Conditions Shift as (Re)insurers Adjust to the Changing Nature of Risk
The growing complexity of risk is manifesting itself in the (re)insurance sector as underwriting assumptions are being challenged, and capital inflow levels and risk appetites respond accordingly. Crucially, the accumulation of losses from a range of diverse natural catastrophe perils in 2017 and 2018 has brought an end to years of soft (re)insurance market conditions as ... Continue Reading »
