In Monaco, it is the high mass of the sector every year at the same time. All insurers, reinsurers and brokers from around the world are meeting for three days, until Wednesday September 14, in the Principality to discuss rates. Climate change and its impact on insurance premiums are obviously at the heart of the discussions.
As far as France is concerned, this year should be the worst period on the front of climatic events since the storms of 1999 which had ravaged entire forests in particular. Between January and July, the damage amounts to nearly 4.3 billion euros, in other words already more than the annual average of 3.5 billion euros recorded since 2017.
Globally, according to the reinsurer Swiss Re, whose business is to insure insurers, natural disasters generated nearly 72 billion euros in economic losses in the first half of the year alone, including 35 billion for insurers and reinsurers, which undermines their profitability.
For several years, the tariffs of reinsurers have been increasing, which encourages basic insurers to pass this increase on to customers. Some professionals are pleading for the tax that finances the natural disaster regime in France to be raised from 12 to 18%.
Concretely, by how much will our insurance contracts be increased next year? No precise figures have yet been put forward. Especially since several criteria for compensation in the event of natural disasters could be reviewed, such as coverage of purely aesthetic damage to buildings in the event of drought. In Monaco until Wednesday September 14, insurers will also insist a lot on the prevention of risks upstream, through legislation, such as the limitation of the concreting of the ground to fight against floods.