Paris hand-wringing, work-life priorities and Fourth of July lessons for MGAs
We might not be Richard Branson (19 million), or even MetLife (858,000), but we're feeling like the Beyoncé of #insurance LinkedIn this morning, thanks to our irreplaceable followers. A heartfelt tip of the cap to all 8,000 of you! What a ride it's been. But enough with the back-patting warm and fuzzies, let's get back to business...
With Hurricane Beryl barreling down on Texas, Tropical Storm Risk warns that this is just the beginning. In fact, the weather forecasters just raised their outlook for activity levels this season, with an additional hurricane expected. Now, TSR is looking for four Category 1 or stronger storms to make landfall in the United States. The gloomier view now calls for 26 named tropical storms, 13 hurricanes and six major hurricanes.
And so now's as good a time as any to examine the industry's climate crisis mode and what, at this point, can be done about it. “Very clearly the... models are not working,” Insure Our Future Global's Lindsay Keenan explained to the Financial Times in an interview. “I’m amazed how they have managed to blag the regulators with their rhetoric that ‘It’s all OK, we have models for that’ over the years, and still today.” The sector has, indeed, been hit hard four years in a row as natural catastrophe losses topped $100 billion.
As if those unsettling numbers aren't enough to bring on some sleepless nights, insurers, according to Reuters , are feeling a bit nervous that militant attacks or AI-generated fake images could disrupt the Paris Olympics, leading to event cancellations and millions of dollars in claims. "We are all aware of the geopolitical situation the world is in," said Eike Doerte Bürgel of Allianz , which is an insurance partner for the Games. "We are convinced that the IOC, Paris 2024 and the national organising committees, together with the French authorities, are taking the right measures when it comes to challenges on the ground."
Good thing reinsurers are flush these days. In fact, we've got a new record in global reinsurer capital, which reached $695 billion in the first quarter, thanks to strong underwriting, improved investment yields and booming cat bond issuance. As you can see, global reinsurer capital has surged $130 billion, or 23% since the end of 2015, according to Aon's numbers. Elevated losses from secondary perils and other events spurred a drop in overall reinsurer capital in 2022, with alternative capital falling slightly but traditional capital sliding to its lowest level in years, at just $482 billion.
Yes, there are a lot of moving parts in this biz right now. Are young jobseekers feeling the pull? Numbers suggest we still have a lot of convincing to do. "Why does the insurance industry struggle to find and retain top talent, and why is that more so than in other industries? The answer: Insurance has an image problem," said WAHVE LLC's Sharon Emek. We asked our followers (8,000+ ??) about what they want most out of an insurance gig, and as you can see from the poll results, a big chunk of them prioritize work-life balance.
And finally, what would Fourth of July week be without some nerd drawing lines between the birth of our nation and the insurance industry. And by "some nerd" we're talking about Insurance Nerds , of course. Guest columnist Peter Crowe laid out four ways in which the lessons from the 1776 USA startup could be applied to MGAs and other insurance startups:
"In essence, whether you’re founding a nation or a business, the principles of strategic growth, exposure management, and competitive awareness remain timeless," he wrote.