Reinsurance trade groups warn of damage caused by protectionist regulations

19 January 2012

Protectionist reinsurance regulations which try to impose limits on global risk distribution via reinsurance, such as those recently introduced in Argentina and Brazil, will backfire, according to a coalition of international reinsurance trade groups.

The group, which includes the CEA (the European insurance and reinsurance federation), the Reinsurance Association of America, the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, the International Underwriting Association, and the Insurance Information Institute, pointed to the record 2011 global natural disaster insured catastrophe losses as a warning sign.

The group pointed out that nearly 45 per cent of the more than $105 billion insured catastrophe losses in 2011 will be paid by global reinsurers, nearly all of which were not located in the jurisdiction in which the event occurred.

Brazil's protectionist reinsurance regulation, by contrast, would force domestic reinsurers to pay these record losses with less assistance from international reinsurance markets.

Press release


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