Assurant, Inc., has finalized its 2019 property catastrophe reinsurance program.
“We are pleased to complete our 2019 catastrophe reinsurance program, which this year includes a significant reduction of our per-event retention to $80 million, as we look to lower our catastrophe exposure and produce more predictable earnings and cash flow,” said Assurant's president and chief executive officer, Alan Colberg.
“At Assurant, we manage risk to protect and support our policyholders when catastrophes occur. Going forward, we will continue to evaluate options to further reduce our catastrophe exposure,” Mr. Colberg added.
The company said that the key highlights of the 2019 program included:
- $1.16 billion of coverage in excess of an $80 million retention per-event with a projected probable maximum loss (“PML”) of approximately a 1-in-173-year storm, based on projected modeled loss estimates.
- When combined with the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, the program is covered for gross Florida losses of up to $1.4 billion.
- Multiyear reinsurance contracts cover approximately 35 percent of reinsurance layers.
- All layers of the program allow for one automatic reinstatement, except Layer 1 which has two reinstatements, and include a cascading feature that provides multi-event protection in which higher coverage layers drop down to $120 million as the lower layers and reinstatement limit are exhausted.
- 2019 reinsurance premiums for this program are estimated to be approximately $165 million pre-tax reflecting the significant decrease in catastrophe per-event retention and modest growth in exposure. Coverage was placed with more than 45 reinsurers.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].