IUMI: Insurers need to manage ‘unthinkable’ risks now

Dieter Berg, president of the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI), has highlighted the need to manage “unthinkable” risks, which are becoming more commonplace.

Of special concern is the increasing risk of a large event loss, either a natural catastrophe (nat-cat) or man-made, in the cargo sector due to increasing value accumulations on single sites or vessels, in combination with stronger nat-cat impact.

Losses like Deepwater Horizon (insured loss US$6bn), Costa Concordia (insured loss US$1.5bn) and the Tianjin port explosion (insured loss $2-3bn) would have been assessed as “unthinkable” until recently.