Assurant lowers 2020 property cat reinsurance tower by $230m

US insurer Assurant has lowered its overall property catastrophe reinsurance tower limit by $230 million in the 2020 programme while maintaining $80 million per-event retention with increasing multi-year coverage.

The catastrophe reinsurance programme limits the company's financial exposure, protecting over 3 million homeowners and renters policyholders against severe weather and other hazards.

The 2020 programme also includes coverage in the Caribbean of up to $175 million in excess of $20 million, and 2020 Latin America protection of up to $170 million in excess of $7 million which will renew in full on July 1, 2020.

The US programme provides $930 million of coverage in excess of a $80 million retention per-event with a projected probable maximum loss (PML) of approximately a 1-in-174-year storm, based on projected modeled loss estimates.

When combined with the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, the programme is covered for gross Florida losses of up to $1.15 billion.

Alan Colberg, president and chief executive officer of Assurant, said: “At Assurant, not only is our commitment to social responsibility critical, but we believe we have an obligation to strengthen and protect the communities where we work and live for all of our stakeholders, including our customers and consumers. And one way we demonstrate that commitment is by implementing a comprehensive catastrophe reinsurance program.”

Michael Campbell, president of Global Housing added: “This year, our strong reinsurance partnerships enabled us to increase our multi-year coverage to nearly 50 percent of our total U.S. program, while maintaining our $80 million per-event retention at attractive terms and conditions, compared to the broader market. Importantly, we continued to execute on our long-term strategy to reduce less attractive risk exposure, as we exited businesses that do not meet our risk-return expectations, allowing us to lower our overall tower limit by $230 million.”