There are not many green shoots of hope for the insurance industry amid the coronavirus pandemic. Perhaps it’s some small consolation for the industry that at least one product appears to have received a boost from the pandemic – warranty & indemnity (W&I) insurance in M&A.
After witnessing several years of decreases, commercial insurance buyers are facing rate increases not seen in almost two decades. Industry experts expect price hikes to double for some premiums as insurers try to mitigate the impact the coronavirus on their revenue.
Insurance brokers play a vital role in addressing adequate coverage and several other factors constraining growth in the cyber insurance market, suggests a new report by CyberCube.
As the reinsurance sector continues to take a hit from the COVID-19 crisis and other factors, S&P Global’s latest report has revised its sector outlook from stable to negative.
The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, warned earlier this year that a coordinated cyberattack on a major financial institution could cause a “liquidity crisis”. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that financial institutions have been the earliest and most willing adopters of cyber insurance.
General insurers need to reinvent their products in order to increase the sector's economic relevance amid a new risk landscape. For instance, while fire traditionally has been the biggest risk to property, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that non-physical risks present an immediate threat to properties as well.
With COVID-19 pandemic sweeping virtually every nation across the globe, most organisations are adjusting to employees working from home. However, the majority of the employees use their own internet connections which increases their vulnerability to cyber attacks.
At the direction of the Chinese government, domestic insurers started selling business interruption insurance to cover Chinese enterprises against disruptions from the coronavirus outbreak. Fitch Ratings cautions that the move could pose risks to the underwriting stability of property and casualty insurers.
The Wimbledon tennis tournament had the foresight to buy around £1.5 million (US$1.9 million) per year in pandemic insurance following the SARS outbreak in 2003, said GlobalData in a recent bulletin.
The lack of a robust insurance market is hampering the adoption of cryptoassets and blockchain infrastructures, according to Evertas, the world’s first cryptoasset insurance company.