Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon plc has launched its annual Life Catastrophe Benchmarking Study, that has found an increase in the number of companies buying life catastrophe protection. The study aims to provide an insight into catastrophe reinsurance purchasing patterns and help benchmark retentions, quantity and price.
Anne-Lise Bagur, actuary at Aon Benfield Analytics, said: “We believe Solvency II is the main driver of the increase in reinsurance purchase in Europe, as companies prepare for the forthcoming regulation by buying reinsurance to reduce capital requirements.”
Solvency II requires insurers to take a more granular approach to risk retention. Many captive managers believe that the increased capital requirements of Solvency II will have an adverse effect on the cost of doing business. The survey suggests that companies are buying protection ahead of the introduction of the legislation.
The survey that formed the basis of the study is based on the responses of 290 life insurers from 17 countries which buy a combined catastrophe reinsurance capacity of €7.5 billion. The study is focused on Europe but also includes survey data from Canada, China, Israel and Japan.
