Alternative Capital a Wet Blanket on Natural-Catastrophe Spark to Harden Property Market

Alternative capital in the form of insurance-linked securities is here to stay, and its response to a record-setting year for natural-catastrophe losses has “fundamentally changed marketplace dynamics,” according to a property market update from Willis Towers Watson.

The broker said catastrophe-exposed properties with recent losses are facing rate hikes of 20-25 percent, and similar programs without losses are facing increases of 10-20 percent.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/02/15/alternative-capital-wet-blanket-natural-catastrophe-spark-harden-property-market/

Chad Hemenway, Alternative capital a wet blanket on natural-catastrophe spark to harden property market (February 15, 2018).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Professional Front Page News.

A More Active Plaintiffs’ Bar Driving Increase in Securities Class Action Litigation

The total count of new cases tracked by Advisen that may be covered by D&O insurance was down in 2017 from 2016, according to data presented during Advisen’s D&O claims trends end-of-year webinar.

When looking specifically at shareholder risks, which include securities class action suits, merger objection suits, derivative shareholder suits and a variety of other suits brought by shareholders, the number of filings has remained fairly constant over the past four years.

Behind this general consistency in shareholder risks, however, there has been a fair amount of change year-to-year in terms of the different case types.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/01/29/active-plaintiffs-bar-driving-increase-securities-class-action-litigation/

Josh Bradford, A more active plaintiffs’ bar driving increase in securities class action litigation (January 29, 2018).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Professional Front Page News.

Vendor Cyber Risk Management

Perhaps you remember Fazio Mechanical, the unfortunate HVAC contractor that was the access point to Target for its massive 2013 data breach. Using network credentials stolen from Fazio, attackers broke into the retailer’s network in November, 2013. Data containing the names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and payment card information for up to 70 million people was compromised.

Fazzio Mechanical was far from an anomaly. Hackers often look for vulnerabilities in vendors’ security systems as a way into a target company’s network. Supplier networks are often more vulnerable than those of the target enterprise, which may have more resources devoted to security. Home Depot and Boston Medical Center are other examples of organizations that were breached as a result of compromised third parties. Recently an Indiana hospital paid hackers to unencrypt patient records that were targeted in an attack launched through an outside vendor’s account.

Network security is increasingly as a key consideration in vendor risk assessment, and companies are starting to integrate cybersecurity into their supplier qualification criteria. A number of cybersecurity software companies offer tools to assess vendor cyber hygiene, and many do a good job of identifying security flaws and summarizing exposures through scoring systems or in easy-to-understand reports.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/blog/2018/02/20/vendor-cyber-risk-management/

Dave Bradford. (2018, February 20). Vendor Cyber Risk Management [Blog].

This blog post in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Blog.

Insurers Can Play a Role in Building Resilience to ‘Unforeseen Risks’

The insurance industry has a key role to play in assisting their clients in facing the challenges outlined in the recent World Economic Forum’s 2018 Global Risks Report, including cyber risk, environmental and sustainability risks, and political risks.

The report asks global leaders to reflect on the most serious challenges facing business, government, and society – in the 2018 report, environmental risks including extreme weather events, natural disasters, and failure to adopt climate change mitigation were named as some of the most pressing issues in terms of likelihood and potential impact. Cyberattacks also ranked among the top five risks.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/01/26/insurers-can-play-role-building-resilience-unforeseen-risks/

Erin Ayers, Insurers can play a role in building resilience to ‘unforeseen risks’ (January 26, 2018).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Professional Front Page News.

Insurers Covered Record $132 Billion in Weather-Related Damage in 2017

Global natural catastrophes in 2017 caused $353 billion in economic losses, with losses covered by private and public insurers eclipsing $130 billion.

According to Aon Benfield’s Weather, Climate & Catastrophe Insight annual report, the $134 billion in insured losses from natural catastrophes in 2017 was just behind the record $137 billion paid by insurers as a result of events in 2011, and only the third time insured losses from natural catastrophes were more than $100 billion.

Thirty-one events around the world—16 in the US—resulted in at least $1 billion in losses last year.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/01/25/insurers-covered-record-132-billion-weather-related-damage-2017/

Chad Hemenway, Insurers covered record $132 billion in weather-related damage in 2017 (January 25, 2018).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Professional Front Page News.

XL Catlin Remains on Top to Earn Advisen’s Pacesetter Product Innovation Award

For the second year in a row XL Catlin has topped Advisen’s annual Pacesetter index, an annual recognition of product innovation in the P&C insurance industry.

In fact the top three remain in place from our tally a year ago, with Chubb and Ironshore ranked second and third, respectively. Insurers XL Catlin, Chubb (formerly as ACE prior to the merger), and Ironshore have dominated the top three slots since 2013.

Following the top three is a tie for fourth place with newcomer Starr as well as a reappearance of Allied World, which finished just outside of the top 10 a year ago following several years on the list. The Hanover is another newcomer to the list.

Advisen has been recording and publishing new-product announcements since 2008, and began ranking the top 10 by the number of press releases we receive from each company in 2010.

For 2017, the top three innovators posted a total of 52 product launches, accounting for a quarter of the 208 new-product announcements sent to Advisen.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/01/23/xl-catlin-remains-top-earn-advisens-pacesetter-product-innovation-award/

Chad Hemenway, XL Catlin remains on top to earn Advisen’s Pacesetter product innovation award (January 23, 2018).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Professional Front Page News.

Cyber Events Increase for Oil and Gas Orgs, Now Planning Should, Too

More oil and gas organizations (60 percent) reported “significant” cybersecurity events in 2017, up from 41 percent the previous year, according to Ernst & Young’s Global Information Security Survey, but just 17 percent feel comfortable detecting sophisticated cyberattacks.

Nearly all respondents (95 percent) say their cybersecurity efforts meet their organizational needs, even as the urgency is increasing. Greater adoption of connected devices in the industrial sector means that informational and operational technology have collided. With the industrial sector a key part of many supply chains, the time for attention to cyber-physical risks is now. The report indicated that while efforts to steal intellectual property, data, or finances have dropped for oil and gas organizations, malware and phishing efforts are on the rise.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/01/22/cyber-events-increase-oil-gas-orgs-now-planning/

Erin Ayers, Cyber events increase for oil and gas orgs, now planning should, too (January 22, 2018).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Cyber Front Page News.

Environmental Damage Cited As Top Global Risk: World Economic Forum

Strong economic growth predicted for 2018 should provide an opportunity for world leaders to address serious challenges facing society, governments, the environment, and the economy, according to the 2018 Global Risks Report from the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Nearly 1,000 global experts offered their perspectives on the most pressing issues facing the world, with environmental concerns again outpacing all other concerns in terms of likelihood of occurrence and impact. Respondents named extreme weather events, ecosystem collapse, natural disasters, man-made environmental catastrophes, and the failure to adopt or implement climate change strategies as the most likely events with the greatest potential impacts. Economic risks have faded in importance, the WEF noted, as environmental issues take on more prominence. Joining environmental concerns among the five most likely risks were cyberattacks and theft or misuse of data.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/01/18/environmental-damage-cited-top-global-risk-world-economic-forum/

Erin Ayers, Environmental damage cited as top global risk: World Economic Forum (January 18, 2018).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Professional Front Page News.