The growing frequency and severity of weather-related events such as drought, storms and wildfires are prompting French insurers and reinsurers to rethink their appetite and pricing for natural catastrophe risks, according to a new report from AM Best.
The report, “French Insurers Reconsider Natural Catastrophe Assumptions Following Another Very Expensive Year”, notes that record-breaking temperatures and severe droughts led to significant property damage losses in 2022.
The latest estimate from France Assureurs puts insurers' weather-related natural catastrophe losses for 2022 at around €10 billion, prompting reinsurers to push up prices and tighten conditions in the January 1 renewals.
According to AM Best the report looks at how 2022 was another very expensive year for insured natural catastrophe losses in France and claims that recent weather-related claims experience is forcing French insurers and reinsurers to reconsider their assumptions with respect to natural catastrophe frequency and severity.
As a result it said that insurers and reinsurers are expected to increase premium levels and reduce their risk appetite for natural catastrophe events in response to increasing actual and expected losses.
AM Best, Nat Cat, Pricing, Insurance, Reinsurance, Captives, France Insurers
