Insurers must prepare for Asian 'supercats'

Aon Benfield, the world’s premier reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor, is warning insurers in Asia to prepare for future “Supercat” events like those experienced in the USA.

A Supercat event is defined as generating an insured market loss of at least USD10 billion and in Asia is most likely to occur in Japan, China and South Korea.

By comparison, the USA will almost certainly continue to rank Number One in terms of Supercat losses for the foreseeable future due to the frequency of major hurricanes alone— such as hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma in 2005—without even considering earthquake and terrorism-related losses.

Aon Benfield research also revealed the following Supercat loss scenarios: