International P&C insurance news: January 2021

Editor’s Note: Here is a round-up of recent property & casualty insurance news from outside the U.S.

Germany agreed to extend its federal backstop for commercial credit insurers through June 31, 2021. The government will cover losses up to 30 billion euros (approx. $36.8B). According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, credit insurers will maintain their coverage for nearly 400 billion euros worth of credit lines and surrender nearly 60% of their premiums during the agreement period.

The world suffered $210 billion in losses in 2020 as a result of weather events during the second-warmest year on record, according to a report by Munich Re. The worst disaster of the year was flooding across China that caused more than $17 billion in damages, said the insurer.

RIMS, the risk management society®, announced the formation of its 80th chapter, RIMS India Chapter. “RIMS India’s Board of Directors truly represent a cross-section of the country’s risk management community,” Gopal Krishnan K S, head of RIMS India Operations, said in a statement. “The Society looks forward to learning from their unique experiences and welcoming others to contribute so that, together, we can develop the highest standard of risk management education to address corporate India’s biggest concerns.”

Global insured losses from natural and man-made catastrophes in 2020 amounted to $83 billion, says Swiss Re Institute’s preliminary sigma estimates. The estimate makes 2020 the fifth-costliest year since 1970.

The insurance unit of Japan’s Post Holdings Co.’s announced plans to buy back about 300 billion yen ($2.9 billion) of shares from its parent company, with plans to rebuild the insurance operation, Bloomberg reported.

Singapore’s general insurance market is forecast to contract by 1.9% in 2020, down from the 6.7% growth it saw in 2019, says an analysis from GlobalData. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the market’s motor and property insurance business, which collectively accounted for 43% of Singapore’s general insurance premiums in 2019.

Lloyd’s of London announced in December that it end investment in thermal coal-fired power plants, thermal coal mines, oil sands, and new Arctic energy exploration activities. The insurance market also said it will allocate 5% of its central fund for impact investments by 2022, will cut its net emissions to zero by 2025, and will ask managing agents to stop insuring or investing in fossil fuels by January 2030.

The African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group, which includes ARC Agency and ARC Insurance Company, proposed a parametric insurance product to provide coverage for tropical cyclones in countries in the South West Indian Ocean (SWIO) region. Thirteen cyclone events with wind speeds above 63 km/h occur each year, on average, in the SWIO region.

A group of reinsurance companies in the Cayman Islands formed a new group, the Cayman International Reinsurance Companies Association (“CIRCA”). According to a press release, the group is “dedicated to fostering the industry through peer interaction, advocacy and education on topics impacting the regulatory and business environment” for reinsurers in the Cayman Islands.

Manitoba Public Insurance, a public insurer in Canada, recently stated that investigations into nearly 1,000 suspicious claims prevented more than $13 million in claims costs associated with fraudulent activity as of November 2020.

Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali SpA agreed to buy AXA’s Greek operations, AXA Greece, for 165 million euros ($203 million), Bloomberg reported. The transaction is the latest in Assicurazioni Generali’s plan to expand its European non-life and health insurance businesses.

Ghana granted insurers an extension until Jan. 1, 2022, to comply with new minimum capital requirements. The country’s regulator announced in June 2019 that life and non-life insurers must increase their minimum capital by more than a third to 50 million cedis ($8.5M), and reinsurers must raise their capital from 40 million cedis to 125 million cedis ($21M).