Wildfire losses in the U.S. are increasing, but the risk is still considerably smaller than hurricanes, according to a new KCC white paper. While we usually think of California and other western states—especially since the devastating LA wildfires in January—KCC …
AM Best’s population of global reinsurance companies posted a return on equity (ROE) of 22% in 2023 – a five-year high that was driven mainly by favorable investment income and strong underwriting performance. The fundamentals are excellent, but Hurricanes Helene …
Florida’s Hurricane Milton caused private insured losses of about $36 billion, estimated catastrophe modeler Karen Clark & Co. The estimate includes losses from wind, storms surge, and inland flooding to personal, commercial and industrial properties and vehicles, as well as …
Last month, amid reports that Hurricane Beryl would become the earliest Category 5 hurricane in history, a group of money managers were busy trying to figure out whether their highly calibrated bets centered on natural catastrophes were about to take …
Insurers in the United States may take a hit of about $2.7 billion from damage caused by Hurricane Beryl, catastrophe modeling company Karen Clark & Co (KCC) said on Thursday. About 1.5 million customers remained without power in Texas on …
As the best hedge fund strategy of 2023 becomes a magnet for mainstream investors, the risk models it relies on are getting a lot tougher to crack. The strategy in question is tied to insurance-linked securities, which are dominated by …
The insurance industry is grappling with a new kind of weather risk that’s increasingly driving its biggest loss category. While no single weather event caused more than $10 billion in losses for insurers last year, there were 37 thunderstorms that …
For hedge funds, the science of catastrophes helped generate the best returns of any alternative investment strategy last year. The calculus around natural disasters such as hurricanes and cyclones fed record gains at funds managed by firms including Tenax Capital, …
The earnings impact on the major domestic non-life insurers of claims from the Jan. 1, 2024 earthquake in Japan is expected to be manageable relative to the sector’s net profit, according to AM Best in a market commentary. Japan’s four …
Executive summary: The key to getting useful model results is working with models that fit specific underwriting needs and making sure the models are regularly updated while employing qualitative analysis (in addition to the models’ quantitative analysis), say experts from …
