Reinsurers insure insurance companies, and have been raising
rates in recent years because of steepening losses, which
industry players put down in part to the impact of climate
change. Higher reinsurance rates can affect the premiums which
insurers charge to their customers.
U.S. reinsurance rates for policies which previously faced
claims for natural catastrophes rose 30-50%, Gallagher Re said.
Reinsurance rates for similar policies in Florida rose 30-40%,
the broker added.
Some insurance firms have pulled out because of the risk of
heavy losses. State Farm said in May it would stop selling new
insurance policies to homeowners in California.
In Florida, "all the major carriers (insurers) left and so you
ended up with this market which is populated by a large number
of very small, very thinly capitalised insurers which is exactly
what you don't want," James Vickers, chairman international,
reinsurance, at Gallagher Re told Reuters.
Reinsurers are raising the amounts which insurers have to pay
themselves before reinsurance kicks in, Vickers added.
Risk modeling firm RMS said in a note last week that this year's
hurricane season was likely to be "near normal". But the firm
pointed out that last year's near-normal hurricane season
included Hurricane Ian, expected to be one of the costliest U.S.
hurricanes on record.
Reinsurance rate increases for U.S. and Florida property
catastrophe policies averaged 25-35% at July renewals, broker
Aon said in a note last week.
Reinsurance rates for some types of aviation war policies rose
by up to 100% on the July 1 renewal date, Gallagher Re said.
Industry players point to ongoing liability claims following two
Boeing 737 MAX crashes, legal battles over planes stuck in
Russia and the destruction this year of aircraft at Khartoum
airport as contributing to higher aviation war rates.
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn in London and Noor Zainab Hussain in
Bengaluru, Editing by Louise Heavens)
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