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Winter Weather Third-Largest Cause of Cat Losses

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Winter Snow Storm

Weather damage never goes out of season. According to a new report from the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.), winter storms are historically the third-largest cause of catastrophe losses, behind only hurricanes and tornadoes.

“Winter storms accounted for 7.

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1 percent of all insured catastrophe losses between 1993 and 2012, placing it third behind hurricanes and tropical storms (40 percent) and tornadoes (36 percent) as the costliest natural disasters,” said I.I.I. President Robert Hartwig.

Insured Catastrophe Losses

Between 1993 and 2012, winter storms resulted in about $27.8 billion in insured losses—or $1.4 billion per year, on average, according to Property Claims Service for Verisk Insurance Solutions.

A December ice storm in North Texas left at least $30 million in residential insured losses in its wake, the Insurance Council of Texas reported. This figure does not include estimated damage to vehicles or government property, nor does it take into account the significant municipal expense of safety or cleanup measures. Dallas County alone spent 0,000 to 0,000 just to battle slick roads, according to conservative estimates from County Judge Clay Jenkins.

He told Insurance Journal that, while sanding and salting roads constituted some of the county’s greatest efforts, the biggest cost came from closing offices, including the court system. Weather-related shutdown resulted in lost productivity of about .

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5 million, he said.

Nation-wide, December weather caused total economic and insured losses estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars and claimed 29 lives, Aon Benfield reported.

But 2013 should have made some fair-weather friends in the insurance industry. Last year, according to Munich Re, direct overall losses caused by global disasters amounted to around $125 billion and insured losses of around $31 billion. While exceptionally costly, these were below the 10-year averages of $184 billion and $56 billion, respectively.

Reactions Mixed to FIO Modernization Report

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On December 12, 2013, the Federal Insurance Office released its report on how to modernize the United States insurance regulatory system. The report had been long awaited by the insurance industry, so it comes as no surprise that many in the industry have responded to the report’s findings. So far, reviews are mixed.

National Association of Insurance Commissioners:

“The Dodd-Frank Act established the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) within the Treasury Department and makes clear that FIO is not a regulatory agency and its authorities do not displace state insurance regulation.  While we appreciate FIO’s suggestions for improvement, the states have the ultimate responsibility for implementing regulatory changes.”

Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, Inc.:

“While we agree with the report’s conclusion that insurance regulation could be improved and modernized in certain areas, we strongly believe that any federal action should be targeted and limited with day-to-day regulation left in the in the hands of state officials. The state-based system of insurance regulation has served consumers and our economy well for decades. The Big ‘I’ strongly supports the continued preservation of this system and is ardently opposed to any direct infringement by the federal government.”

National Association of Professional Insurance Agents:

“As a strong supporter of our successful state-based system of insurance regulation, we are concerned that the FIO report may be driven by assumptions and assertions that do not hold up to scrutiny. Many of FIO’s assumptions appear to have been contradicted by a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that concluded that the state insurance regulatory system worked well to help mitigate the negative effects of the 2007-2009 financial crisis on the insurance industry.”

American Insurance Association:

“The Report provides a valuable guidepost for collectively working toward improvements that lead to greater regulatory effectiveness, efficiency, and marketplace competition.  The overall objective of modernizing and improving U.S. insurance regulation should be to promote the growth of healthy, competitive private insurance markets at home and abroad that will ultimately benefit and protect insurance consumers while emphasizing safety and soundness.  The FIO Report affirms these essential goals.”

RIMS:

“RIMS strongly supported the creation of the Federal Insurance Office as a first step toward needed federal regulation of the insurance market. There is no question that commercial insurers, producers and policyholders would benefit from more consistency and uniformity in terms and conditions when insurance is purchased from a single insurer.  Opportunities to streamline the insurance purchasing process are a priority for this Society and we’re happy to see the FIO make progress to enhance regulations.”

There is obvious tension between the FIO and many in the industry over what exactly the FIO’s role is and should be going forward. Now that the report has been released, it will be interesting to see what the FIO’s next steps are. Many government issued reports are released and never heard from again. It remains to be seen if the FIO’s report meets that same fate.

Jan. 1 Reinsurance Renewal Rates Drop

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New capacity, rate reductions and competition are a few factors contributing to a softer market and an 11% drop in reinsurance rate on line—a calculation of reinsurance premium divided by reinsurance limit—almost across the board, according to Guy Carpenter.

Much of this was driven by a decline of 15% in the United States, while property catastrophe pricing in Continental Europe and the United Kingdom fell by 10% and 15%, respectively, Guy Carpenter said.

Willis Re said in its “1st View” report that soft market conditions are not unique to the property catastrophe market. The report found that “with few exceptions rates are down on most lines at Jan. 1.”

Key influences on the Jan. 1 renewals were over-capacity and a number of other converging factors. “Rate reductions, new capacity, new market entrants, low interest rates, greater retention of reinsurance premiums by large buyers, diminishing reserve releases, expansion in terms and conditions and the increasing tempo of regulatory oversight” were issues facing reinsurers entering 2014.

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New capital from non-traditional capital market sources has grown to reach $50 billion. Compounding the situation, reinsurers are seeing lower demand from buyers, the report said.

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Peter Hearn, Willis Re chairman said in a statement, “Faced with these market headwinds, reinsurers are adopting a variety of strategies. Larger reinsurers are using their balance sheet strength and technical ability to offer more capacity and more complex, multi-class, multi-year deals. Others are expanding into specialty lines and many have developed multi-channel capacity offerings seeking to use their underwriting expertise to deploy capacity on behalf of capital markets. Additionally, we have seen the rise of pooling arrangements that give smaller reinsurers the opportunity to access business they might not otherwise see in their local markets.

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”

The United States is seeing a softening market as increased capacity from non-traditional capital providers and retained earnings from a benign catastrophe year pressures traditional reinsurers to offer significant price reductions to compete for business.

Also in the U.S.:

• Risk-adjusted price reductions are being seen in all sectors

• There are wide variations for regional and state specific programs, depending on loss experience and reliability of vendor models

• Multi-year contracts and market facilities are becoming more routine for reinsurers wishing to lock in business

Tech Trends in 2013 and New Year Predictions

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With the New Year comes added awareness of the hazards social media can present to corporations, the risks of data exchange between business systems and other challenges inherent with technology. Here is a look at the top trends of last year and predictions for the year ahead.

2013 Key Trends

1.      Growing Convergence between IT, Security and the Business

Evolving risk challenges require that internal and external stakeholders are on the same risk page. For many organizations, however, internal audit, security, compliance and the business have different views of risk and what it takes to build a risk-aware and resilient business. Effective risk management starts with good communications. This includes a common taxonomy for dealing with risk, and a collaborative discussion framework to facilitate the cross-functional sharing of ideas and best practices.

2.      Focus on Managing Third Party IT and Security Risks

Organizations are increasingly global and hyper-extended, with a heavy reliance on third parties such as partners, vendors, and cloud-based service providers. Data flowing within and throughout this modern business ecosystem supports critical business processes, and also contains sensitive and regulated information. Therefore, strong oversight and management of the various IT and security risks is critical to protect the business and its reputation.

3.      Movement Towards Risk-Based Security Operations Management

In 2013, IT & Security Operations adopted a more formal, structured approach that is more closely aligned with the business and its priorities. Using a risk-based approach to prioritize security initiatives drives efficacy and efficiency—which can help secure greater buy-in and support from senior management. Risk-based security management allows security teams to promote an understanding of risk by communicating in the terms and context needed to support decision-making.

4.      Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and Mobile Device Risk Management

Mobile, e-commerce, online, wireless—this is how business is done today. Furthermore, employees are increasingly mobile and rely heavily on their devices, such as smartphones and tablets, for a variety of business activities. The threats that come with this trend are many, including data leaks, theft, and misuse. Corporate IT departments have to create stronger policies and tighter controls to manage corporate data, applications, and user behavior.

2014 Predictions

1.      Leveraging social media to drive situational awareness

Security and business continuity management teams have begun to realize the power of both social media and technology solutions that can mine and analyze data from sources such as Google Crisis Maps, Twitter, Facebook, and more, to provide real time crisis updates. Further extending this intelligence can help governments and businesses gain a complete understanding of a crisis and all of its associated financial, operational, and reputational risks.

2.      Focus on Continuous Monitoring in Risk Management

Effective risk management requires the real-time monitoring of threats, vulnerabilities, and potential exposures. In 2014, IT, Security, Risk and Compliance teams will need to work more closely together to create mature monitoring processes, supported by technology, and guided by regulations and standards such as PCI DSS 3.0, ISO 27001, and NERC CIP 5.

3.      Security and Risk Analytics Based on IT and Security “Big Data”

Incorporating security analytics and metrics alongside more traditional performance metrics such as liquidity and revenue will be critical for management to gain a much-needed holistic view of the operational risk portfolio. Leveraging IT and Security “big data” can provide the risk intelligence needed to create a truly data-driven business, guide continuous improvement processes, and lay the foundation for organizational transformation.