Page 16 - Insurance Times April 2023

Insured losses from natu- interest rates will likely have to in- ing in eastern Australia in February-
crease further given existing inflation March 2022. This resulted in insured
ral catastrophes break
pressure. This means higher financing losses of USD 4.3 billion, the biggest
through USD 100 billion costs and, as a result, capacity provid- natural catastrophe claims event ever
ers are likely to remain more cautious in Australia.
threshold again in 2022
in deploying capital for a number of
On the opposite end of the rainfall
"The magnitude of losses in 2022 is not
reasons, including risk assessment and spectrum, weather variability and
a story of exceptional natural hazards,
loss experience. In our view, as higher anomalous atmospheric circulation
but rather a picture of growing prop-
exposures encounter shrinking risk ap- conditions contributed to severe
erty exposure, accentuated by excep-
petite, momentum for rising prices, droughts and record-breaking
tional inflation", said Martin Bertogg,
higher retentions and tighter terms heatwaves across the world. In Brazil,
Head of Catastrophe Perils at Swiss Re.
and conditions will likely continue", crop yields, particularly soybean and
"While inflation may subside, increas-
said Jérôme Jean Haegeli, Swiss Re's corn, suffered most, resulting in in-
ing value concentration in areas vul-
Group Chief Economist. sured losses of USD 1 billion.
nerable to natural catastrophes re-
mains a key driver for increasing losses. Insured losses were largely driven by Munich Re surpasses
For our industry this is a call both to Hurricane Ian, by far the year's costli-
reflect the latest exposure even more est event. Making landfall in Florida in profit guidance despite
September as a category 4 storm, Ian
carefully in risk assessments while con- challenging times
tinuing to support society in being bet- resulted in estimated insured losses of
Munich Re posted a profit of €3,419m
ter prepared." USD 50-65 billion. After Hurricane
(2,932m) in the 2022 financial year,
Katrina in 2005, Ian ranks as the sec-
With natural disasters continuing to thus exceeding its profit guidance of
ond-costliest natural catastrophe in-
wreak property damage across the €3.3bn. The Group's profit in Q4 2022
sured loss event on sigma records.
world, the demand for coverage has amounted to €1,516m (871m). Gross
grown. At the same time, inflation has In February 2022, a cluster of storms premiums written rose by 12.7% to
surged over the last two years, aver- (Eunice, Dudley, Franklin) in north- €67,133m (59,567m) year on year.
aging 7% in advanced economies and western Europe triggered combined
Munich Re is on track to meet the fi-
9% in emerging economies in 2022. insured losses of over USD 4 billion,
nancial targets specified in its Ambition
The effect of high prices has been to bringing the total for this category to
2025 strategy programme. In the 2022
increase the nominal value of build- almost double the previous 10-year
financial year, the return on equity
ings, vehicles and other insurable as- average. Meanwhile, France saw the
(RoE) amounted to 13.5%. Earnings per
sets, thus pushing up insurance claims highest ever annual loss (USD 5 billion)
share rose by 17.6% to €24.63 in 2022.
for damage caused by natural catas- from hailstorms.
If the Annual General Meeting imple-
trophes.
Global losses from floods were above ments the proposal of the Board of
"The economic storm is not over, and average, the main event being flood- Management and Supervisory Board to
14 April 2023 The Insurance Times