Category:

Reinsurance

COVID-19 response ‘could bankrupt the insurance industry’: insurance defense lawyer

The problem for policyholders is that they’re required to show physical loss or damages to make a claim for business interruption. Typically, he said, insurers will pay out business interruption insurance if, for instance, a company has to shut down because of a fire or a natural disaster. Civil authority provisions cover shutdowns mandated by state or local governments in response to nearby disasters, such as a business that’s ordered to close its doors because of a chemical release at a manufacturing plant down the street, Badger said.

COVID-19 shutdowns, he said, don’t fit either of those scenarios. Policyholders whose businesses were closed because COVID-19 molecules were found on their premises may argue that the virus constituted physical damage. That will be a question for courts to decide, Badger said. But widespread shutdowns of uninfected businesses, in order to slow the spread of the virus, cannot trigger business interruption or civil authority coverage.

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Bermuda’s “resilient” re/insurance market continues to meet global clients’ needs amid COVID-19

“The re/insurance industry excels in time of disruption and catastrophes—managing risk during natural and man-made disasters is our strength,” said John M. Huff, President & CEO of Association of Bermuda Insurers & Reinsurers (ABIR), noting the Bermuda market is well capitalized and works closely with regulators and policy makers globally on the economic potential of any significant events. “The industry has a proven track record of responding successfully during critical moments in history and we will continue to do so as the world faces and recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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Most small UK companies have no pandemic insurance – watchdog

The FCA said most insurance policies for small and medium sized companies (SMEs) only gave basic cover, with no obligation to pay out in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“While this may be disappointing for the policyholder we see no reasonable grounds to intervene in such circumstances,” FCA interim chief executive Christopher Woolard said in a letter to heads of insurers.

“In contrast, there are policies where it is clear that the firm has an obligation to pay out on a policy. For these policies, it is important that claims are assessed and settled quickly.”

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Markel International appoints Bo Yu as claims lead for Asia

In this role, Bo will be the first point of contact for all claims arising through Markel’s offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, India and Labuan. He will work closely with the extensive claims team across the Markel group, ensuring the best expertise is always provided to clients throughout the claims process. Bo will also help Markel better engage with its partners across the region by offering specific claims training as and when required.

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Cyber Security&Covid-19

If you have effective cyber incident response, crisis management and/or business recovery plans in place, it is important to review them in light of your new operating environment. Can you access all the equipment you will need to test or reset? Is your data still being backed up to a secure site? Can your users still effectively report phishing or other indicators of cyber incidents? How are you going to maintain communication between the key crisis managers if all your laptops and mobiles get encrypted with ransomware? If your plan isn’t tested yet, now may be the wrong time to start – but at a minimum do all the relevant staff at least have a clear understanding of the plan, and how your current situation has altered it?

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Climate-change effects to drive rising losses from severe weather events:Sigma study

Worldwide, economic losses from natural and man-made disasters in 2019 were USD 146 billion, lower than USD 176 billion in 2018 and the previous 10-year annual average of USD 212 billion. The global insurance industry covered USD 60 billion of the losses, compared with USD 93 billion in 2018 and USD 75 billion on average in the previous 10 years.

“To uphold the insurance risk transfer model as a powerful tool to foster resilience, insurers need to adapt before, not post events,” Martin Bertogg, Head of Catastrophe Perils at Swiss Re said. “To this end, insurers should be wary of historical loss records in understanding today’s state of the socio-economic environment and climate. Averaging out over a past spanning multiple decades can lead to distorted risk assessment.”

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