Category:

Non-Life

AstraZeneca still aiming for Oxford Covid-19 vaccine by year-end:CEO

The pause highlights the importance of rigorous final-stage trials to pick up on potential side effects or rare events, according to Hatchett. It also shows the need to have a diversified portfolio of Covid-19 vaccines under development, a strategy that CEPI is using with its partners, he said.

“It points to the fact that vaccine development is tricky and unpredictable, and that things that look like they are going along very well can encounter difficulties,” he said.

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IRDAI plans broad basing exclusive Carona covers, moots digital health insurance claim platform:Alamelu

“We are thinking of ways and means, sooner than later we will issue instructions on how standardised Covid-specific health insurance policies can be mainstreamed, renewed, features of porting migration so that Corona Rakshak and Corona Kavach policyholders continue to get a good cover not only for Covid but entire health sector.” said T.L. Alamelu,member (Non-Life),IRDAI on Friday while addressing an ASSOCHAM National e-Summit on Challenges, Opportunities & Way Forward for Health Insurance Under Covid Attack.

She also indicated that  the regulator is currently is working on plans to develop a digital claim settlement mechanism involving all stakeholders – policyholders, insurers, TPAs, hospitals that could be stitched up with National Digital Health Mission.

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Munich Re to stop selling Pandemic Business Coverage after losses

“We are currently examining whether we will offer new contracts that include pandemic protection in property and casualty insurance in the future,” Torsten Jeworrek, Munich Re’s head of reinsurance, said in an interview.

“For the moment it has been suspended, for example with respect to event cancellations.” The company will continue to cover pandemics in its life and health contracts.Most of Munich Re’s Covid 19-related losses this year stemmed from the scrapping of major events and other hits to companies’ income during lockdown..

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Insurers face threat as Amazon to enter motor insurance market:GlobalData

Yasha Kuruvilla, Insurance Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Since customers are reluctant to purchase insurance from tech companies, partnering with a third-party provider is the better strategy, at least until they become recognized names in insurance. Amazon’s partnership with insurtech Acko rather than an incumbent also highlights the retailer’s desire to work with digital and agile companies. This will put added pressure on incumbents, not only due to the emergence of a new large entrant in the market, but also the need to digitalize if they want to work with tech companies in any other future insurance ventures.”

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Lloyd’s to pay up to £5bn as gross COVID-19 claims

John Neal, Lloyd’s CEO said: “The first half of 2020 has been an exceptionally challenging period for our people, our customers, and for economies around the world. The pandemic has inflicted catastrophic societal and economic damage calling for unparalleled measures to stifle the spread of the virus, and to get businesses and economies back on their feet. Our half year results demonstrate that our robust approach to performance management and remediation has begun to take effect, evidenced by a significant turnaround in the underlying performance metrics, which give the truest indication of our market’s profitability.”

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COVID-19 “not a capital event”, 3% decline in global reinsurance capital in the first half of 2020: Willis Re

Total capital dedicated to the global reinsurance industry was USD 587 billion at 30 June 2020, combined ratio worsened from 94.9% in the first half of 2019 to 104.1%, due to COVID-19 losses which added 11.1 percentage points to combined ratios on average. However, on an underlying basis i.e. normalising COVID-19 and catastrophe losses and excluding prior year reserve development, the combined ratio improved from 100.5% to 98.6%.
James Kent, Global CEO, Willis Re, said: “This half-year analysis shows a reinsurance market understandably in a state of change. While reinsurers have so far resiliently shouldered the combined effects of COVID-19 losses and investment market volatility, underlying profitability remains challenging. Uncertainty therefore remains, particularly over the potential impact of COVID-19 on long-tail lines, which is driving reinsurers to deliver additional improvement in underwriting returns. We expect to see further reinsurance market discipline as well as continued differentiation between regions and clients based on past performance and underlying risk.”

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