Climate risks pose threats to reinsurers in Asia

Hong Kong, Peak Re’s home, suffered record-breaking flash floods in August, like other places in Asia in the last few years. The increased risk of flooding across the region is one reason rates are rising, but it presents a long-term challenge to reinsurers, according to Henry Phillips (pictured), senior vice president, property underwriting, at  Peak Re.

This year marked a fundamental change for reinsurers in Asia, adopting price discipline in response to secondary cat peril losses such as localised flash-flooding, Phillips told SIRC Today.

“Reinsurers fundamentally need to reset their pricing strategies to make sure they’re explicitly pricing these perils. We can no longer apply loading to account for these perils, it’s something that needs to be explicitly catered for,” he says.