ID Summit: South Korea feels ‘collateral...
May 15, 2012
South Korea felt the effect of so-called “collateral damage” from last year’s Asian loss experience and faced price increases of 5% to 25% on a risk-adjusted basis in the most recent renewals despite having escaped the ravages of catastrophes. According to Guy Carpenter’s Chris Klein, that proved the discipline of the reinsurance sector at the April renewals. He quoted Guy Carpenter figures for the April 1 renewals, which typically focus on the Japanese market, that showed windstorm excess-of-loss rates in the Japanese market up 10% to 20%, earthquake excess-of-loss up 10% to 40% and earthquake pro-rata 35% to 55%. But Klein said the class that was really hit hard was per-risk excess-of-loss, which saw increases of 50% to 170%. “That’s really aggravated by Thai floods,” he said, adding: “A lot was discovered about Thailand, particularly the way in which industry had moved there from...