COP15: Week 1 Roundup
After week one of the Copenhagen climate summit disagreement still remained as to the overarching objective of limiting global warming to 1.5° or 2°C? While G8 and major developing nations endorsed...
View ArticleStrong medicine for longterm cure?
Broadly, there was a growing concern that the insurance industry was going to suffer under tighter regulation prompted by the financial crisis. Despite having stood firm while the rest of the...
View ArticleClimate change does not equal global warming
I was recently asked why there was a conference taking place in Denmark about Global Warming. This is a question that pains me every time that I hear it – and emphasises the requirement to communicate...
View ArticleShaping climate-resilient development – the case for utility theory
The Economics of Climate Adaptation (ECA) Working Group has published a report titled “shaping climate resilient development“. It is an excellent report and focussed around a series of case studies....
View Article2009 Bumper year for Market modernisation
As we approach the end of 2009 it seems an ideal time to reflect on the year – and what a bumper year we as a market have had! It has certainly been challenging and one that has been packed full of...
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Liability prices: a case of arrested development?
In 2008, businesses spent around USD142bn on liability insurance worldwide, around half of which originated in the US. Importantly, emerging countries’ share is expanding. China generated USD1.2bn in...
View ArticleAnd now an early storm warning
Did you see the weather forecast? I mean the long range forecast for Atlantic hurricane activity. In the US, highly respected wind watchers Philip Klotzbach and William M Grey of the University of...
View ArticleMarine insurers get that sinking feeling
Marine insurers whose premium income has been hit by the devastating fall in volumes and values in global trade and by the dramatic drop in ship values, must be on watch for more risks on the horizon,...
View ArticleAll systems go...
A lot can happen in a month and the Endorsements Initiative is certainly testament to this. To date the initiative has received an overwhelmingly positive response and as a result received unanimous...
View ArticleHindsight’s a wonderful thing…
…or is it? The Emerging Risks Team at Lloyd’s has just published a new report on Behavioural Risks. The report looks at a whole variety of typical biases in human thought processes – and suggests that...
View ArticleLet the shock absorbers do their job
The Geneva Association has confirmed what most of us already knew: insurance is not like banking and it does not pose a systemic risk to the financial world. In a nutshell, insurers are more stable...
View ArticleAnother Step Closer…
I spoke back in November 2009 on the ‘Finish What We’ve Started’ (FWWS) initiatives which aim to complete the work started with the development of the ECF and A&S systems and processes. You may...
View ArticleIt’s official – ECF is quicker
If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll know that market modernisation is a theme I return to again and again. A lot has been achieved but there is always more to do so it’s great to get some...
View ArticleAre reinsurers sleepwalking through April renewals
Unprecedented cat losses in the first quarter of this year bode ill for the rest of the year. Reinsurers are facing a bill of US$16bn from nat cats that include the Chilean earthquake and the European...
View ArticleFuture Processing in the London Market
You may remember that back in November of last year, I blogged about the Future of Central Services processing work that Market Operations had presented to the London Market Group. Since then, the LMG...
View ArticleIt's life Jim but not as we know it
Late last week Craig Ventner, founder of company Synthetic Genomics announced the stunning news that his research group have created life starting from basic ingredients. He sums it up perfectly...
View Article2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season Forecast:The year of the “Perfect Storm”?
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/hurrsummary_2009.pdf At the Insurance Day London Summit, CEO Richard Ward cautioned that the insurance industry may this year be facing a “perfect...
View ArticleFeelings running high in Madrid
In session after session, speakers outlined how difficult macro-economic conditions combined with increasing attention from regulators was going to put severe pressure on margins. As if to ram home...
View ArticleMicro’s getting macro attention
If conference themes and new publications are a measure of growing interest in a sector, then microinsurance - the provision of insurance in developing countries - is definitely on the up. The Global...
View ArticleWater wars
This week five East African countries refused to back down on a deal to share Nile Waters that excludes the two biggest users, Egypt and Sudan. For a decade now the countries in the Nile Basin have...
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