Episode 2: Eying hurricane damage

The world is entering a new era of infrastructure investment. From AI data centres and energy systems to advanced manufacturing, trillions are being invested in building the foundations of tomorrow's economy. But with investment on this scale come new and increasingly complex risks. What does this mean for the insurance industry, and how can insurers help support this next wave of growth? In the latest episode of Risk REconsidered, our host John Miller speaks to Jimmy Keime, Global Head of Engineering and Nuclear at Swiss Re, and Arnaud Vanoli, economist at Swiss Re Institute about the opportunities and challenges of the global investment supercycle, from emerging risks and interconnected supply chains to the critical role of insurance in supporting this next wave of growth.  

In the latest Risk REconsidered podcast, Swiss Re Public Sector Solutions' Gerry Lemcke and Marina Oberholzer explore how innovative risk-transfer solutions can strengthen countries' financial resilience to natural disasters.  Lemcke and Oberholzer trace the evolution of Public Sector Solutions back to 2011, when Swiss Re became the first reinsurer to establish a dedicated unit to work with governments on their risk-mitigation and risk-transfer needs.  Now, the toolbox to address these needs is expanding: Lemcke and Oberholzer discuss insurance-linked loans, which embed disaster protection into sovereign financing. When a qualifying disaster strikes, an insurer takes over the loan payments, providing real debt relief and freeing up public funds to be used for recovery instead.  While many "moving parts" must be addressed when developing risk-transfer solutions for nations with loan obligations, Lemcke says the objective is clear: "We need more effective instruments in dealing with the debt burden following a natural disaster."

In our latest episode of Risk REconsidered, we shift to a video format as we mark the 15th anniversary of massive flooding in Thailand that began as a regional disaster but grew to into a global supply-chain crisis. Balz Grollimund, who heads Swiss Re's Catastrophe Perils team, says these historic floods endure as reminder of why insurers and reinsurers must work diligently to manage risks and exposures that can accumulate quickly across their portfolios, producing losses well beyond expectations. Like Grollimund says, the Thai floods – still the costliest floods ever for the insurance industry – continue to provide relevant takeaways that we can apply to strengthen society's ability to prepare for and recover from natural disasters.

In the fourth episode of Risk REconsidered, we explore why flood losses are rising across India, Australia and Asia with insights from Vineet Kumar, Swiss Re's Head of Cat Perils APAC, and Andrew Hall of the Insurance Council of Australia. We examine how smarter modelling, richer data and forward-looking planning can help communities build long-term resilience. Commissioner Tony Grindberg joins us to discuss the Fargo–Moorhead Diversion, a leading US flood-protection project that highlights climate adaptation on a large scale.

In the third episode of Risk REconsidered we take a closer look at the January Los Angeles wildfires from a large loss perspective and discuss what research is being carried out by The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety to help home owners better prepare for natural catastrophes. We also speak to Professor Nancy Wallace about her first-hand experience with wildfires and what work she is doing to help the future insurability of wildfires in California.

In the second episode of Risk REconsidered, we take a closer look at the 2024 hurricane season, discuss the role of hurricane forecasts for insurers and examine drivers of storm losses. We also speak to an innovative US  real estate developer whose community in Florida came through Hurricanes Ian and Milton virtually unscathed, and discuss the a topic on risk managers' minds: how weather-related perils are impacting insurability in disaster prone areas.

In this first episode, we discuss complex hazards that accompany severe convective storms, in particular hail that has emerged as a main culprit behind the bulk of insured losses from natural catastrophes. We also speak with a US professor who helps develop university-level storm chasing courses and who has been an advisor for Hollywood crews seeking to capture fierce weather for their productions.

Swiss Re's new podcast series on climate risk coming soon.