Source: Business Insurance

September 06, 2019

Stephen Catlin, chief executive of U.K.-based insurer and reinsurer Convex Group Ltd., said that firming of insurance and reinsurance rates could persist for the “next three to four years,” Artemis reported. “Prices are nothing like what they were and a lot is still underpriced.” Mr. Catlin believes that following heavy catastrophe losses in recent years, the likelihood of rapid insurance-linked securities market growth is much lower.

Source: Business Insurance

Judy Greenwald

September 05, 2019 The costliest cyber catastrophe scenario is widespread data loss from a leading operating system provider with the potential to generate up to $23.8 billion of insured loss, says a study that explores the size and shape of possible cyber catastrophe scenarios. But the most likely cyber catastrophe loss scenario is widespread data theft from a major email service provider, with a possible $19.1 billion loss, says the study issued Thursday by Guy Carpenter & Co. LLC, a Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. subsidiary, and San Francisco-based Cyber Cube Analytics Inc. The report says according to some estimates, the global market volume for cyber insurance will grow to $8-$9 billion by 2020, which is more than twice that of 2017. But despite this growth potential, “increasing competition as new entrants seek to take advantage of the growth potential has created pressure on rates as well as an expansion of available coverage.

Source: Business Insurance

Matthew Lerner September 06, 2019 Insured losses from Hurricane Dorian’s hit to the Caribbean will range between $1.5 billion and $3 billion, catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide said Friday. The insured loss estimates for the Caribbean include damage to onshore residential, commercial and industrial properties and their contents, as well as automobiles; time element coverage, such as additional living expenses for residential properties, and business interruption for commercial properties that experience physical loss from direct and indirect sources; and storm surge, which is implicitly accounted for in the wind damage functions, according to Boston-based AIR. Grand Bahama and Abaco Island were devastated by Dorian, according to AIR. The modeler’s insured loss estimates for the Caribbean do not include loss to offshore properties, pleasure boats and marine craft, although losses for boats inside a building may be estimated if their replacement value is included as contents; losses to infrastructure; losses from hazardous waste cleanup, vandalism or civil commotion directly or indirectly caused by the event; demand surge; losses resulting from the compromise of existing defenses, such as levees; losses to uninsured properties; and other nonmodeled losses, including loss adjustment expenses.

Source: Business Insurance

September 04, 2019 (Reuters) — Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc., and its YouTube video service will pay $170 million to settle allegations that it broke federal law by collecting personal information about children, the Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday. YouTube had been accused of tracking viewers of children’s channels using cookies without parental consent and using those cookies to deliver millions of dollars in targeted advertisements to those viewers. The settlement with the FTC and the New York attorney general’s office, which will receive $34 million, is the largest since a law banning collecting information about children under age 13 came into effect in 1998. The law was revised in 2013 to include “cookies,” used to track a person’s internet viewing habits.

Source: Business Insurance

September 05, 2019 A report by Aon PLC said that Lloyd’s of London’s chief executive John Neal’s “Future at Lloyd’s” initiative may result in some of the biggest changes in the market, Asia Insurance Review reported. These changes include separate placement methods for complex and standardized risk; easier entry to the market for high-performing innovative businesses; more flexibility in the way capital participates; a next-generation claims service; and the creation of an ecosystem of data and services.

Source: Business Insurance

September 05, 2019 African swine fever has hit all the localities in Vietnam, Xinhua reported citing Vietnam News Agency. Since the first ASF outbreak in February in northern Hung Yen province, the virus has hit nearly 7,000 communes, 600 districts, 62 cities and provinces across Vietnam, leading to the culling of more than four million pigs. Early this year, Vietnam had some 27 million pigs, having the biggest pig population among Southeast Asian nations, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. On average, the number of pigs in Vietnam annually grew more than 0.9 percent in the 2015-2018 period.ASF is a severe viral disease affecting domestic pigs and boars which can be spread by live or dead pigs and pork products. The ASF virus is harmless to humans, but causes hemorrhagic fever in pigs and wild boars that is almost fatal, according to the World Organization for Animal Health.

Source: Business Insurance

September 05, 2019 A report by the Transported Asset Protection Association said that cargo thefts from supply chains surpassed €55 million ($61 million) in Europe, Middle East & Africa region in the first half, Port Wings reported. The number of cargo thefts increased by more than 5% to nearly 4,200 in the region.

Source: Business Insurance

September 05, 2019 The U.K. needs to meet the necessary health and biosecurity standards of the European Union for the country’s exporters to be able to sell products to the bloc in the event of a no-deal Brexit, Euractiv reports. The European Commission had granted such a status in April. “If the United Kingdom continues to provide the necessary assurances, the measures will be re-adopted to apply as of Nov. 1,” an official said.

Source: Business Insurance

September 05, 2019 Dzhambulat Khatuov, first deputy agriculture minister of Russia, expects extreme weather events to have caused more than $140 million worth of agricultural damage this year, UrduPoint reported. “This year, 15 regions of the Russian Federation faced different emergency situations, such as freeze, drought, flood and so on,” Mr. Khatuov said.

Source: Business Insurance

September 03, 2019 (Reuters) — A federal appeals court on Friday handed a victory to travelers who object to invasive screenings at U.S. airport security checkpoints, saying screeners are not absolutely immune from lawsuits accusing them of abusive conduct. In a 9-4 decision, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said Transportation Security Administration screeners were “investigative or law enforcement officers” for purposes of searching passengers, waiving the government’s usual immunity from lawsuits. Circuit Judge Thomas Ambro said the “intimate physical nature” of airport screenings brought them within the ambit of law enforcement, allowing travelers to pursue some civil claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act for intentional wrongdoing. He downplayed concern that the decision would open the floodgates to litigation, saying that in 2015 fewer than 200 people, out of more than 700 million screened, filed complaints that might trigger the waiver. “The overwhelming majority of perform their jobs professionally despite far more grumbling than appreciation,” he wrote. “Their professionalism is commensurate with the seriousness of their role in keeping our skies safe.”