Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
RenaissanceRe Posts $190.5 Million Q1 Net Income; 36.2% Combined Ratio
May 3 2013 // Bermuda-based RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. reported net income available to common shareholders of $190.5 million or $4.23 per diluted common share in the first quarter of 2013, compared to $201.4 million or $3.88 per...
SNL Report: Cat Bond Market Continues to Progress
May 3 2013 // A report from SNL Financial cites the recent activity in the insurance linked securities (ILS), or “Cat Bond” market is continuing to be an attractive alternative for insurers. SNL’s report notes that...
Researchers Develop New Metric to Measure Destructive Potential of Hurricanes
May 1 2013 // Researchers at Florida State University have developed a new metric to measure seasonal Atlantic tropical cyclone activity that focuses on the size of storms in addition to the duration and intensity, a measure that may...
Demand, Rates for Terrorism Insurance Coverage Remain Steady: Marsh
Apr 30 2013 // The recent bombing at the Boston Marathon serves as a reminder that mass violence remains a critical threat for organizations, say experts at insurance brokerage Marsh, which just issued its latest report on sales of...
Experts Weigh Boston Bombings’ Impact on Government-Backed Terrorism Insurance
Apr 30 2013 // The April 15 Boston bombings could have an impact on the efforts to renew the federal government’s terrorism insurance backstop. Some experts say the Boston Marathon tragedy could help the cause of supporters of the...
First Confirmed Japanese Tsunami Debris in California
Apr 29 2013 // A barnacle-covered fishing boat that washed ashore this month in Crescent City, California, has been confirmed as the first debris from the 2011 tsunami in Japan to reach California’s shores. The National Oceanic...
To Tax or Not to Tax – ‘Foreign’ Reinsurance’ Tax Proposals on the Agenda Again
Apr 29 2013 // “Roundup the usual suspects;” here we go again. No, it’s not an unsolved murder in wartime Casablanca, simply the latest skirmish in the ongoing dispute over whether companies that write reinsurance in...
Chubb Q1 Profit Rises 30% to $656M; CEO Says ‘Market Remains Firm’
Apr 26 2013 // Chubb Corp. reported on Thursday $656 million net income for its 2013 first quarter, an increase of 29.6 percent compared to $506 million income reported during the first quarter of 2012. The insurer of businesses and...
Storms Flood Streets, Damage Houses in Southeast Louisiana
Apr 26 2013 // A fast-moving line of intense thunderstorms flooded streets, knocked out power to more than 30,000 people in southeast Louisiana on April 24 and spawned two tornadoes that damaged homes and businesses in Jefferson...
U.S. P/C Industry 2012 Income $33.5B in Spite of $32B in Cat Losses
Apr 26 2013 // U.S. property/casualty insurers absorbed net insured catastrophe losses of more than $32 billion last year, but still managed to post $33.5 billion in net income in the aggregate—in part because catastrophe losses were...
Defining Terrorism for Policies Not a Simple Task After Boston Tragedy
Apr 25 2013 // There are a number of issues involved in determining whether the Boston bombings tragedy would be considered a terrorist act for insurance purposes such as determining the applicability of terrorism exclusions and...
Nevada Quake Lab Has New $4M Research Project
Apr 25 2013 // The University of Nevada’s world-renowned earthquake laboratory has launched a nearly $4 million research project aimed at making nonstructural parts of buildings more earthquake proof. Engineers at the...
Wildfires Prompt Colorado Insurance Changes
Apr 24 2013 // Colorado lawmakers are close to agreement on a slate of insurance changes inspired by homeowners’ complaints after last year’s wildfires. The state Senate gave final approval this week to a bill aimed at making...
Swiss Re in Co-op Agreement with GEM Foundation for Latin America Quake Risk
Apr 24 2013 // The Swiss Re Foundation and the GEM Foundation announced a “three-year collaborative project to create the first-ever comprehensive picture of seismic risk in Latin America to incorporate social and economic...
Terrorism Risk, Flood Insurance and Green Building Hot Topics for Risk Managers: RIMS
Apr 23 2013 // Renewal of the Terrorism and Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) was a much talked about topic at the annual Risk and Insurance Management Society conference on Tuesday, a four-day conference in Los Angeles, Calif., that includes...
Floridians Encouraged to Buy Flood Insurance Before Hurricane Season Gets Underway
Apr 23 2013 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty is encouraging Floridians to make preparations now for the upcoming 2013 hurricane season by purchasing flood insurance. Flood insurance is administered through the National...
Earthquake Swarm Keeps Central Oklahoma All Shook Up
Apr 23 2013 // More annoying than threatening, tiny tremors are shaking portions of central Oklahoma with increasing frequency – rattling homes, knocking things over and interrupting sleep. “I feel them every time,”...
Willis Report Warns of Growing Risks from Natural Catastrophe Exposures
Apr 23 2013 // “The growing threat of natural catastrophes is raising serious challenges for corporate risk managers and the insurance industry,” according to the second issue of Resilience magazine, the risk management...
AIR Worldwide Announces New Real-Time Climate Risk Analytics Service
Apr 23 2013 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide (AIR) has announced the availability of “Real-Time Climate Risk Analytics,” which it described as a “new service for corporations and emergency management agencies...
RIMS in Southern California Touts Risks
Apr 22 2013 // Risk managers will play a greater role in strategic planning in the near future, according to a report issued on Monday. That was among the plethora of risk related information delivered at the annual Risk and Insurance...
