South Korea’s non-life insurance sector’s deteriorated loss ratios in major business lines, escalated pressure on investment earnings amid a historic low interest rate environment and increased asset risk due to capital market volatility, have led AM Best to revise its market segment outlook to negative from stable on the sector. Best said South Korea’s non-life insurance segment went through a…
General insurance business in South Korea is expected to stagnate in 2020, largely due to Covid-19, according to GlobalData. The sector is predicted to see growth declining to 0.7% in 2020, as compared to the 2.8% in 2019. GlobalData said it revised the insurance forecast for South Korea in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak. It said South Korea’s general…
European manufacturers in sectors such as fashion and retail that have rapidly cancelled orders from suppliers in Asia – in some cases using force majeure to terminate contracts early because of the Covid-19 crisis – are failing to live up to their responsibility to ensure their use of supply chains does not violate human rights, according to the European Centre…
The World Bank’s pandemic bonds, which could provide $132.5m of funds to countries within the International Development Association (IDA) and International Bank Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), will be triggered and paid out – but only if reported cases of coronavirus continue to escalate rapidly in the developing world, as cases in China and Europe show welcome signs of plateauing. Credit…
AIR Worldwide has again warned that the number of global coronavirus (Covid-19) cases is likely much higher than official figures, due to “significant” underreporting. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were90,893 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of 3 March, and 3,111 deaths. But AIR’s models estimate that the actual number of moderately symptomatic cases of Covid-19 in China…
The UK, Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Romania are the European countries most at risk from the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19) as a result of the outbreak in Italy, according to scenarios run by AIR Worldwide. It has also named the countries most at risk from the secondary outbreaks in South Korea and Iran. Using models to project…
Credit ratings agency AM Best has downgraded Pakistan insurer Adamjee Insurance Company because of a deterioration in the company’s risk-adjusted capitalisation caused by a series of unrealised investment losses following equity market volatility in the country in 2017 and 2018. Best noted that Adamjee has reported “solid” underwriting performance and operating results in recent times but it relies on investment…
Amid speculation that coronavirus may soon be declared a pandemic, the outbreak’s economic impact is beginning to be felt with disruption to supply chains and falling consumer demand in China. Risk managers are advised to pay very close attention. As the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in China passes 30,000, questions are being raised about the country’s ability to…
Cyber coverage is being extended across Asia-Pacific and big investment is being made in raising awareness of the risk by authorities across the region, but risk and insurance managers still seem unwilling to recognise the need for the cover, according to Franck Baron, chairman of the Pan-Asia Risk Management and Insurance Association (Parima) and group general manager – risk management…
India’s planned new data protection bill, which is based on the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is likely to be set before parliament in February or March. The updated bill that was originally proposed in 2018 has recently been updated and contains a number of controversial additions. These include criminal liability for directors and officers who are found responsible…