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Looking for a robust growth industry? Try catastrophe insurance.
Analysts at Technavio are forecasting that the global catastrophe insurance market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 5% through 2020, according to their latest report.
Key companies in the catastrophe insurance market includes leaders such as Berkshire Hathaway, AIG, Allianz, and Lloyds.
In their newly released report, Technavio’s analysts highlighted the following three factors that are contributing to the growth of the global catastrophe insurance market:
• Catastrophe bond pricing and valuation strategies
• Regulatory support for public-private cooperation on building resilient infrastructure and better risk governance
• Climatic changes
Catastrophe bond pricing and valuation strategies
The insurance industry is considered a cyclical industry. Therefore, insurers are formulating different strategies to earn positive yields and generate cash flows during the forecast period. Such strategies should bring in stable earnings year-over-year for players in the insurance industry. Catastrophe bonds help the investors to earn good returns that are uncorrelated with the broader financial markets. It helps the portfolio managers in making more informed decisions in allocating the capital and by understanding the attributes of the pricing trends. The insurance company makes use of catastrophe bonds so that it can transfer insurance risk to the capital markets.
Amit Sharma, a lead research analyst at Technavio, says, “In the present market scenario, catastrophe bonds have evolved into valuable risk management and investment tools where there is incorporation of different elements from both the debt capital and reinsurance markets. Catastrophe bonds provide alternative means to capitalize reinsurance transactions.”
Regulatory support for public-private cooperation on building resilient infrastructure and better risk governance
Globally huge losses are incurred due to damages caused due to natural disasters. The role of government plays a very important role wherein it requires the government to develop a comprehensive disaster management framework. One of the popular disaster management frameworks is public-private partnership (PPP) model that has become a popular way for governments to engage private sector players in strengthening infrastructure (thereby increasing the quality and providing better value for money). PPP is considered as a strategic approach to minimize the negative impacts of disasters, particularly in the developing countries.
“Top insurance firms are expected to invest more in innovative products, distribution, and service strategies. The growing size and complexity of the economy have triggered an increase in the demand for insurance against various risks. This has deepened market penetration of insurance products and may boost demand for insurance products during the forecast period,” adds Amit.
Climatic changes
Climatic changes have occurred due to the various natural and manmade disasters. Therefore, the insurance company requires not only to focus on the historical data but also to have forward projections. Climate change has brought in extreme weather events, and therefore insurance companies need to understand the change in the frequency of the extreme weather condition. Therefore, the insurance companies, reinsurance companies, capital markets, and governments are making use of various catastrophe modeling technologies.
This helps them in understanding the risk selection process, underwriting the process, risk mitigation strategies, portfolio optimization, risk transfer mechanisms, reinsurance decision-making, portfolio pricing, reserving and rate making, capital setting and exposure and aggregate management.
© 2016 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.