Insurance Day

The 10 deadliest extreme weather events of the past 20 years have proved it is essential to include a range of models and observations in attribution studies to examine the impacts of climate change, according to a new report by the World Weather Attribution group at Imperial College London. “By reanalysing [a past] event with a more diverse set of climate models and observations we find human-induced climate change indeed doubled the likelihood of the devastating downpours and made it 11% more intense, which is in line with the expected increase due to the warming since pre-industrial times,” WWA said. “Given the extreme temperatures reported elsewhere in the world, particularly in the global south where there are even larger exposed and vulnerable populations, it’s almost certain deadlier events have gone unreported and unstudied.” https://lnkd.in/enxUNFmU

The future of UK captives insurance legislation remains uncertain, after the new government failed to mention a planned consultation on the topic in its October 30 budget. The omission by the new Labour government in its first budget since coming to power has been criticised by several in the insurance sector who were hopeful a consultation would be the first step to making the UK a more attractive jurisdiction for captives. Marsh McLennan UK chief executive, Chris Lay, said his firm is “disappointed the consultation on a UK captive regime has not been launched”. https://lnkd.in/eNugENk3

Litigation on liability for Baltimore bridge collapse is likely to start in early 2026, a Maryland district judge indicated at a scheduling conference held in the city on October 29. James Bredar is due to issue a formal determination in the next few days. But his comments at a hearing before attorneys from both sides indicated he favours expediting the matter, according to local media reports. Unless the parties can come to an out-of-court settlement before that time, the trial is likely to last for 15 days and will take place before Bredar alone, without a jury. https://lnkd.in/eUwcQCBQ

Real disruption from generative artificial intelligence is yet to happen, the head of claims at Swiss Re’s corporate insurance arm said. Marc Scheidegger, chief claims officer at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, says much of the industry is using generative AI to improve existing processes, but these tools have yet to “really disrupt” processes. “Where the value comes from – and I see that clearly in my world – is the specific use cases," he tells Insurance Day, explaining that Swiss Re CorSo is already looking at several specific use cases for generative AI in its own claims handling. https://lnkd.in/e6RRffaE

The latest iteration of the EU’s Solvency II Directive should make it easier to operate captive insurers in the bloc, according to the chair of the captives committee at FERMA | Federation of European Risk Management Associations. Laurent Nihoul says Ferma lobbied the EU to have most captives categorised as “small and non-complex undertakings”, which would mean they would enjoy a lower regulatory burden. Initial drafts of the new Solvency II regulation would have excluded most captives from such a classification. “We believe this [earlier draft] would have been highly and unnecessarily detrimental to captives, preventing them from accessing the related proportionality measures,” Nihoul, who is also general manager of Arcelor­Mittal’s insurance business, tells Insurance Day. https://lnkd.in/eRAya44k

NEW ARTICLE: The path to digitalisation for UK schemes and captives Our CEO Charlotte Koep, recently spoke with Insurance Day about how transformation in both UK captive and scheme businesses have so far lagged because of challenges in relation to regulatory complexity and the highly tailored nature of their operations. "As it stands, navigating these regulatory frameworks across each individual captive company or scheme member requires significant time and resources when using legacy tech infrastructure or manual processes, slowing down the pace of delivery." To read the full article, click the link below: https://lnkd.in/eNKr73Wr #insurance #insurtech #legislation

Milton is likely to be among the top 10 costliest hurricanes on record, but determining the insured loss is particularly challenging, as the wide range of estimates reveals. At the top end, Morningstar DBRS pegged insured losses for the hurricane at between $30bn and $60bn. The firm subsequently said it expected losses to be in the top half of that range, potentially putting Milton on a par with 2022’s Hurricane Ian – the second-costliest hurricane on record after Katrina in 2005. But other estimates are far lower – and loss estimates appear to be gradually drifting down. The most recent estimate, from CoreLogic, projects insured losses of between $17bn and $28bn. https://lnkd.in/e9F4PUGF

The cyber market is too focused on growth and needs build more sustainability into pricing, the head of cyber at IQUW says. Andrew Lewis, lead underwriter for cyber at the specialty re/insurer, says the cyber market is facing a challenging time as competition continues to push down rates, while the claims environment has continued to increase. Given the softening of the market, Lewis says underwriters need to focus more on sustainability when pricing risks and take a more targeted approach to growth, focusing on the SME segment rather than the already saturated large corporate space. https://lnkd.in/egqj5tZd

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) reported a sharp rise in the number of reported non-financial misconduct incidents between 2021 and 2023, including among London market firms. A survey conducted by the regulator found 2,347 incidents in 2023, up from 1,363 in 2021 and 1,670 in 2022. Sarah Pritchard, the FCA’s executive director of markets and international, said she hoped the survey would allow financial sector firms to compare their handling of misconduct. “We want this data to support financial firms by providing their management teams and boards with an opportunity to consider if they stand out, and, if so, why that might be.” https://lnkd.in/e7-w3Z-T

As risks become more complex and interrelated, the value of sharing perspectives across a carrier’s teams increases, according to Swiss Re Corporate Solutions chief underwriting officer, Kera McDonald. In an interview with Insurance Day, McDonald describes how this “smart circle” that Swiss Re Corporate Solutions introduced a couple of years ago is bearing fruit. The company is keeping pace with emerging risk trends, McDonald says, because its reserving actuaries, pricing actuaries, underwriters and claim handlers are all in constant contact. https://lnkd.in/ePKyiGhh