Source: Business Insurance

September 04, 2019 A report by U.S.-based S&P Global Ratings Inc. said that property/casualty reinsurance prices have been hardening during the 2019 renewals in reaction to back-to-back high-catastrophe years in 2017 and 2018, Asia Insurance Review reported. “Reinsurers are battling the commoditization of their business and the rise of alternative capital nibbling at their margins,” the ratings agency said.

Source: Business Insurance

September 04, 2019 A Paris commercial court has fined Amazon.com Inc. €4 million ($4.5 million) for allegedly introducing abusive clauses in its contracts with third-party vendors, Reuters reported citing Nextinpact. “The court ruled on a limited number of clauses, most of which were already updated earlier this year,” Amazon said.

Source: Business Insurance

September 04, 2019 Two years of higher-than-expected losses from natural catastrophes are likely to prompt average reinsurance rate renewal rises of up to 5% in January, Reuters reported citing rating agencies. Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and S&P Global are all expecting rates to rise to varying degrees for 2020.

Source: Business Insurance

September 04, 2019 Analysts at UBS Group AG expect hurricane Dorian to cause up to $25 billion worth of insured losses, Fox Business reports. Hurricane Dorian battered the Bahamas on Sep. 2, and then moved to the east coast of the United States.

Source: Business Insurance

September 02, 2019 U.K.-based insurance broker Willis Towers Watson P.L.C. is offering airport operators across the world a drone disruption action plan to deal with drone sightings and prevent flight delays or cancelations, Consultancy.asia reported. Under the action plan, airport operators can assess, locate and understand the type of drone that has infringed the airspace and seek cover for potential property damage, legal liability and reputational risk.

Source: Business Insurance

September 02, 2019 Lloyd’s of London syndicates have pooled £100 million ($121.4 million) for a product innovation facility to help fund product development for emerging and hard-to-insure risks such as climate change, ITIJ.com reported. Senior underwriters from U.K.-based Beazley P.L.C., Hiscox P.L.C. and Germany-based Munich Reinsurance Co. among others have formed the facility to modernize the Lloyd’s market and develop new products to cover rapidly evolving risks.

Source: Business Insurance

September 02, 2019 Japan-based cyber security firm Trend Micro Inc. said that it detected 46 million ransomware attacks against firms worldwide in the first half of this year, up 77% from 26 million attacks in the second half of 2018, SC Magazine reported. A report by Trend Micro found that business email compromise attacks increased 52%, with firms in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom recording the most attempts.

Source: Business Insurance

September 03, 2019 American International Group Inc. said that the number of insurance claims related to cybercrime nearly doubled in 2018 from 2017 amid a rise in the number of threats, IT Pro Portal reported. Business email compromise scams accounted for nearly a quarter of claims, ransomware accounted for 18% and data breaches 14% in the Europe Middle East and Africa region in 2018.

September 03, 2019 Analysis by U.S.-based Pacific Disaster Center found that Hurricane Dorian is likely to cause more than $8 billion in losses in the Bahamas, The Tribune reported. The storm is likely to have damaged communication, power and transportation infrastructure across northwestern Bahamas including Abaco and Grand Bahama.

Source: Business Insurance

September 03, 2019 The U.K.’s insurance sector is moving £61 billion ($75 billion) worth of business to financial centers in the European Union due to Brexit, Bloomberg reported. The Bank of England said that about £5 billion worth of insurance policies will still be in the United Kingdom if Brexit takes place on Oct. 31. Lloyd’s of London said that it would transfer its entire £3 billion worth of EU business by Oct. 31, 2020.