Description: Catastrophic exposure is on the rise owing to extreme weather and economic development of the past few years. Catastrophic claims peaked in 2017, but continue to pose a challenge to insurance markets. Global reinsurers seem to be well-capitalized despite the increase in CAT claims. But emerging insurance markets show a wide protection gap relative to more advance markets. Can reinsurance play a role in helping to narrow the gap? This article examines a few ideas.

Description: Microinsurance mechanisms provide coverage to low income earners, but a growing middle class is often lacking adequate access to insurance services. The author explores ways in which insurance may be more accessible.

Description: Andy Rallis delivers his speech at the presidential luncheon of the SOA 2019 SOA Annual Meeting & Exhibit in Toronto.

Description: This article by Carlos Arocha explores the protection gap throughout Latin America for coverage against natural catastrophic events. As climate change has increased both the frequency and severity of these events, coverage gaps have weighed on both household and public sector economics. In the article, Carlos highlights different methods for evaluating the size of this protection gap, and discusses a number of different ideas for closing this gap, through private sector initiatives, public sector changes, or private-public partnerships.

Description: This article outlines and summarizes research from Swiss Re about the prevalence of the Health Protection Gap throughout Asia, with a particular focus on China. Authors Robert Burr and David Zhang share key statistics on the scope of the gap, which is more than 800Bn USD in China alone, and discuss the role that technology and private-public partnership can play in reducing this gap over time. Readers will come away with an understanding of the scale of the problem within the Asia region as well as new ideas on how to solve similar problems within their own region.

Description: Notes on the IAA meeting that took place in D.C. in May