The peak bodies representing personal and business insurers in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK, have called on Commonwealth leaders to discuss worsening extreme weather and its impact on national economic and community resilience across the Commonwealth.
The call was made at this week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa, that is being held from 21-26 October 2024, according to a statement released yesterday by the Insurance Council of NZ (ICNZ).
The ICNZ, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) and the Association of British Insurers (ABI), have jointly written to the prime ministers of their respective nations, calling for the issue to be put on the agenda as part of the Commonwealth Business Forum on 23 and 24 October.
This follows a Global Insurance Protection Gap Forum held in Sydney, Australia on 18 October involving the four leaders of the ABI, IBC, ICA and ICNZ, along with insurers, Australian government representatives and regulators.
Global Insurance Protection Gap Forum
The Global Insurance Protection Gap Forum agreed that:
- As extreme weather intensifies, populations expand and more homes are put in harm’s way, the insurance protection gap will widen.
- Flood risk is often concentrated in particular areas, but the widespread nature of flood risk is going to increase.
- Governments and insurers have a critical opportunity to collaborate across global markets to build a shared view of current and future hazard risk.
- Efforts must be made to stop locking further risk into the economy by building homes in the wrong places.
- Applying excessive taxes and levies to insurance premiums can directly affect the affordability of insurance coverage.
The four associations collectively represent insurers writing approximately $200bn in gross annual premium, with their members playing an essential role in enabling individuals, communities and businesses to recover from the unexpected and reduce risk across the economies in which they operate.
Operating in Commonwealth nations, the four organisations and their members face similar regulatory, political and financial environments, with their governments and regulators having similar tools at their disposal to implement solutions.