The insurance industry seeks to adjust its operational and business models to meet new challenges, in response to concerns that losses arising from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could be exempted from compensation, as they were not previously part of insurable risks.
COVID-19 has shown that pandemic-related business interruption (BI) is directly linked to the decisions of governments to implement lockdown measures, making it impossible for insurers to model and price such a risk. As such, BI risk is uninsurable by insurers alone, said a report from the Geneva Association.
The Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (Namfisa) says that it has halted its investigation into a multimillion-dollar insurance dispute between Gondwana Collection and Hollard Insurance Namibia because the case is now before the High Court.
The High Court has agreed to hear oral arguments on the application for special leave to appeal the New South Wales Court of Appeal's recent judgment in the first business interruption test case related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The arguments will be heard on a date to be determined in May or June at the earliest.
The giant containership wedged in the Suez Canal could result in millions of dollars in insurance claims against the vessel's owners, according to industry sources who spoke to Reuters.
FIFA has secured insurance coverage of $900m for the Qatar 2022 World Cup tournament that covers the association's additional costs in case of cancellation, postponement and/or relocation of the event.
The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) has released its annual Supply Chain Resilience Report for the year 2021. The report looks at the status of supply chains across the globe and how they have been impacted by the events of the last 12 months.
The IRDAI is considering the formation of an Indian pandemic risk pool with contributions from local and foreign insurers and reinsurers, according to Mr Suresh Mathur, executive director at the regulatory agency.
Sanlam, which has the widest reach across Africa of any insurer, is preparing for a doubling in excess claims from surges in COVID-19 infections and the longer-term health effects of the pandemic in coming months, reported Bloomberg.
The UK Supreme Court issued its decision in the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) BI test case on 15 January, ruling that some forms of BI insurance would cover COVID losses. However, experts from Guy Carpenter state that the court has adopted a narrow definition of a COVID 'occurrence' - an illness suffered by just one person or arguably several people in one household, raising questions about the meaning of the word 'occurrence' in other contexts.