Insurers Should Improve Catastrophe Models: BOE

Insurers need to improve the way they calculate potential risks from natural catastrophes such as hurricanes, wildfires and earthquakes, the Bank of England said on Thursday, with 2017 expected to be a record year for such losses. A number of insurers and reinsurers in Britain and elsewhere have issued profit warnings following catastrophes such as hurricanes in the U.S. and Caribbean, earthquakes in Mexico and wildfires in California this year. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria are expected to cause at least $100 billion in insured losses, reinsurers and modeling agencies say, compared with losses of about $74 billion caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.