Here we highlight the most popular stories among our GC@BB series, which featured our review of critical issues shaping the reinsurance industry. These were the focus of discussions at the recent Baden Baden Reinsurance Symposium, which was hosted by Guy Carpenter. ... Continue Reading »
climate change
The Burning Issue: Managing Wildfire Risk
In recent years, countries such as Canada, the United States, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Chile have experienced unusually severe fires, claiming hundreds of lives and causing billions of dollars in damage. Wildfires have also broken out in countries previously unaccustomed to the problem. In 2018, for example, northern European countries experienced between 20 and 200 times ... Continue Reading »
Climate Resilience: Opportunities for the Insurance Industry
The potential impact of the effects of climate change is requiring multiple stakeholders to re-think their approach to climate resilience. In recent years we have witnessed heightened weather volatility, and according to the majority of scientific opinion, this trend is expected to continue, according to Ruth Lux, Head of Public Sector EMEA, Placement Solutions Group. ... Continue Reading »
The Changing Nature of Risk
In a recently published report 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 »
A Changing Climate
Climate change has long been a topic of considerable debate. Its profile has been raised further recently by two key developments: first, the occurrence of several high profile losses where climate change may have played a contributory role (for example, the California wildfires) and second, regulatory initiatives, particularly in Europe, to stimulate the industry’s focus on t ... Continue Reading »
Global Climate Regulation Looms on the Horizon. Are Banks and Insurers Ready?
Many of the world’s leading banks and insurers are busy finalizing their response plans to the Bank of England’s innocuous-sounding supervisory statement number SS3/19. It sets out the regulator’s expectations for how banks and insurers should manage the financial risks of climate change, including modification of governance and risk management frameworks, development of scena ... Continue Reading »
The Changing Nature of Risk: Part II
Non-peak Perils Costs for non-peak perils in recent years have also accumulated to make a significant contribution to industry losses. Wildfires especially have come under close scrutiny after losses in California in 2017 and 2018, as well as Canada in 2016, spiraled to become significant reinsurance and retrocession events. In fact, insured losses from wildfire activity in ... Continue Reading »
The Changing Nature of Risk: Part I
Today, the (re)insurance sector operates in a rapidly changing and uncertain world. Elevated levels of VUCA – volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity – are unlikely to relent any time soon. In fact, the impending degree of change over the next decade looks set to transform the risk landscape like never before, according to Rob Bentley, CEO, Global Strategic Advisory, G ... 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 »
As Wildfires Get Costlier and Deadlier, Insurers and Utilities Pay the Price
Rob Bailey, Director of Climate Resilience at Marsh & McLennan Insights Contact The wildfires of 2017 and 2018 have led some to ask whether we have entered a fiery new normal. But the “new normal” framing — the idea that we have reached a new equilibrium — is misleading. Climate change and growing numbers of people and assets in fire prone areas mean there is little ch ... Continue Reading »
