Reinsurance Recruitment
Reinsurance Recruitment is a major part of the High Finance Group business. Relevant clients in this area include:
Aspen Re
Gen Re
Tokio Marine Global
Validius Re, Pacific Life Re
Financial Servicces Authority
Relevant Reinsurance news:
Feb natural disasters to cost insurers billions
Fri Mar 5, 2010 11:12am GMT
By Sarah Hills
From the Reuters website
LONDON (Reuters) - February's combination of natural catastrophes, including one of the biggest earthquakes by magnitude in history, will cost reinsurers and insurers billions, said reinsurance broker Aon Benfield on Friday.
The magnitude-8.8 earthquake which struck central Chile on February 27 was the seventh strongest on record, and affected more than 1.5 million homes, buildings and other structures. The disaster follows the Haiti earthquake on January 12, which to date has claimed more than 200,000 lives.
"Insurance penetration in Chile is far greater than in Haiti, and insured losses are expected to be low single digit billions of dollars, while economic losses are forecast to reach tens of billions of dollars," said Aon Benfield in a report.
"As with Haiti, this event has seen a swift and ongoing relief effort. This magnitude-8.8 event was the largest to strike Chile since the magnitude-9.5 Valdivia earthquake that struck on May 22, 1960," said Steve Jakubowski, president of impact forecasting at Aon Benfield.
"This event, unlike the Haiti event, will have significant insured loss implications due to much higher insurance take-up rates in the region that experienced the greatest damage," he said.
Elsewhere in South America, river flooding in February killed at least 15 people in four Bolivian provinces, with more than 35,000 homes being damaged and around 100,000 people displaced. Meanwhile, Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru also suffered severe flooding, the latter witnessing the damage or destruction of more than 20,000 homes, Aon Benfield said.
Europe's Windstorm Xynthia swept across Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium and Germany late in February, causing inland and coastal damage which left two million homes without electricity. Insured losses are expected to be in excess of $2.1 billion (1.4 billion pounds), said the report.
Heavy rains were responsible for extensive flood damage in Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Italy between February 13 and 17. In Greece, 20,000 hectares of land were flooded and damage to homes and infrastructure was estimated at around $10 million. Torrential rain was also witnessed in Madeira, where reconstruction costs are estimated at more than $1.35 billion, with insured losses set to be significantly lower, said Aon Benfield.
In the U.S., severe winter storms swept the country, the first between February 5 and 7, which affected infrastructure in several regions, including Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and parts of southern New Jersey, and resulted in widespread electricity blackouts and disruption to schools, airports, roads and railways.
"More than 35,000 insurance claims had been filed as at the end of February, totalling $125 million," said Aon Benfield.
Click here to view the 'Feb natural disasters to cost insurers billions' article on the Reuters website.
Chile's earthquake 'may cost insurers up to $7bn'
Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:43 GMT
From the BBC news website
The earthquake in Chile may cost the global insurance industry as much as $7bn (£4.7bn), Swiss Re has estimated.
The company, the world's second-largest reinsurer, said the impact on the sector would between $4bn and $7bn.
Swiss Re said its own losses from last month's 8.8 magnitude earthquake would total about $500m.
Chile's outgoing government has said it will take the country up to four years to recover, but economists say Chile is well placed to do this.
Another reinsurance company, Germany's Munich Re, has also said how much it estimates it will have to pay out as a result of the Chilean earthquake - $543m.
Munich Re said it still expected to report a profit of more than 2bn euros ($2.7bn; £1.8bn) this year.
Analysts said that while the losses were large, they were probably not sufficient to reverse recent falls in the prices reinsurance companies charge insurance firms to cover natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes.
"Although it will almost certainly lead to a change in reinsurance prices for business in that region, it is not an industry-changing event on its own," said Helvea analyst Tim Dawson.
Reinsurance companies allow insurance firms to reduce their risk and exposure.
Stable economy
Chile is regarded as having one of the best-run economies in Latin America.
Led by its substantial copper production - which was relatively unaffected by the quake - economists predict the country's economy will still grow by 5% this year.
The country also has one of the lowest government debt to economic output ratios in Latin America.
Chile's inflation rate is currently at 1.5% and its interest rate is 0.5%, where it has been since August of last year.
Chile's President-elect Sebastian Pinera will take control of the country's earthquake recovery work when he takes office on Thursday.
He is preparing an emergency bill and a reconstruction law, saying the country's 2010 budget will be "adjusted to reflect our needs and the reality on the ground".
Click here to view the 'Chile's earthquake 'may cost insurers up to $7bn'' article on the BBC website.
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