2017 was filled with extreme weather of historic proportions. Across the globe, hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires, to name a few, swelled to catastrophic levels.
With the recent catastrophe loss estimates in the U.S. at $136 billion, 2017 is proving to be one of the worst loss years on record for the global reinsurance market. Fortunately, traditional reinsurers remain strongly regulated and capitalized while being supplemented by the continued growth in Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) capacity, according to the Willis Re 1st View report for January 2018. The report, provided three times a year, delivers the first view on current market conditions at the key reinsurance renewal seasons: January 1, April 1 and July 1.
In reviewing the events of 2017, the report notes that the global reinsurance industry has helped to alleviate the impact of the losses. The speed of claims payments from reinsurers to their clients has been "exemplary," the report says, particularly in the Caribbean where many primary companies are highly reinsurance dependent. Requests for advance payments have been promptly settled and "the true value and purpose of reinsurance has again been reinforced."
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Denny Jacob
Denny Jacob is an associate editor for NU PropertyCasualty360. Contact him at [email protected].
