04 March 2010
Published in: Cat risk - ILS
Loss potential of storms increasing
The storm Xynthia, which blew across Europe between 26 and 28 February 2010, counts among the major storms of the last 20 years, noted Allianz SE Reinsurance.
However, it's not the extremes which are important, but the trends. The company said the research that reinsurance experts work with show that global temperatures are indeed rising - even if the reasons for this remain controversial - and that extreme precipitation events - heavy rains or snow storms - are increasing.
Worse, not only is the severity or frequency of storms increasing, but also the loss potential.
"There was a fifteen-fold increase in weather-related insurance claims loss events over the past 30 years", stated Dr Markus Stowasser, meteorologist at Allianz SE Re. Because of socio-economic trends like increasing urbanization and coastal/flood plain development, the costs of weather- and climate-related natural catastrophes and the loss potential have increased too. "According to our estimates, insured losses will continue to grow to €30bn ($41bn) p.a. between 2010 and 2019," Stowasser noted.
"The cold winter is not evidence for or against climate change or global warming," said Dr Silvio Tschudi, head of research and development at Allianz SE Re. "There have always been especially cold winters or extremely hot summers."
The reinsurer added that, in order to cope with the increasing peak risk potential, insurers and reinsurers use ever-improving modelling tools and state-of-the-art research, as well as encouraging prevention measures for construction and for businesses.