The wave of natural disasters that struck North America and the rest of the world last year led to an increase in insured losses seen in 2016 to $144 billion for 2017, according to a recent Swiss Re report. Yet the catastrophic year also led to a reckoning for property insurance pricing as rates continue to rise. “As a property underwriter, the best way to describe 2017 is, it was a very, very interesting year. In 2017, we had major cats affecting some of our larger markets,” said Mark Bernacki, head of property at Beazley. Whether it was Hurricane Harvey, Maria, Irma, or the Mexican earthquakes, or the California wildfires, each of those events had unique features that caused significant damage.
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