33: What the US Capitol riots mean for re/insurance and ILS interests

We spoke with Tom Johansmeyer, Head of PCS, today, to discuss the rioting and civil disturbance seen at the US Capitol buildings on January 6th 2021.

While the rioting and disturbances seen yesterday won’t have any significant implications in terms of losses for the insurance and reinsurance industry, there is a lot to consider.

Johansmeyer explained some of the backdrop to yesterday’s events, as so-called strike, riot and civil commotion (SRCC) risks have appeared elevated for more than a year.

With a lot going on in the world right now, various pressures are building and potentially elevating SRCC risk, Johansmeyer explained.

It’s a challenging risk to understand and evaluate, but one that has the potential to be increasingly impactful in financial terms as well, although it is still relatively rare that SRCC losses fall to the reinsurance or retrocession market.

Johansmeyer also gave some colour on previous major insurance and reinsurance industry SRCC events, what to think about in the industry loss warranty (ILW) market and explained what industry participants should be thinking of going forwards.