Munich RE and Insurance Information Institute release 2012 Natural Catastrophe in Review

The webinar, which features speakers from Munich Re and the Insurance Information Institute, jointly presents an overview of natural catastrophe activity for 2012. Among the highlights of the webinar is the contribution of Superstorm Sandy to the total costs of 2012. The webinar examines damages and costs from wildfire, thunderstorm, tropical storm, earthquake and drought activity that caused considerable economic and insured losses around the world.

Insured losses in 2012 totaled $58 billion, much higher than the average of $27 billion in the decade 2000 to 2011. Hurricane Sandy only caused insured losses in excess of $25 billion. Damage from tornadoes was the second highest annual total on record (since 1970s) despite the relatively quiet tornado activity in 2012.

The webinar reviews the following topics:

• Overview of US natural catastrophe activity including a review of hurricane, thunderstorm, flood, drought and wildfire activity, and an update on the impact of “local” severe-weather events.
• Overview of global catastrophe activity including major global events and a comparison of activity with prior years.
• Economic implications of US natural catastrophes for 2012.
• Impacts of high catastrophe losses on underwriting performance and profitability of the US P/C insurance industry in 2012 and historically.

The webinar concludes with the warning that the large underwriting losses that are being recorded are not sustainable in current investment environment.

Source: The 1 hr webinar is freely available here.