Title: Managing Catastrophe Risks of Natural Disasters at the Country Level: The World Bank Prospective
1Managing Catastrophe Risks of Natural Disasters
at the Country Level The World Bank
Prospective
Distance Learning Course for Insurance
Supervisors
Eugene N. GurenkoSenior Insurance Specialist
email egurenko_at_ifc.orgWorld Bank/IFC Insurance
UnitWashington DC April 28-29, 2002
2Key Messages
- Catastrophe Risk Management is an Integral Part
of Good Governance and of Best Insurance
Supervision Practices - World Bank Plays an Active Role in Assisting its
Client Countries in Building Effective
Catastrophe Risk Management Systems - Risk Pooling and Clearly Defined Allocation of
Catastrophe Risk Between the Insurance Industry
and the Government can be a Effective Way to
Reduce Countries Financial Exposures to Natural
Disasters
3Key Objectives of an Insurance Supervisor
- Ensure companys solvency, i.e., its ability to
meet its claims - Ensure the availability of insurance coverage at
fair market rates for individuals and corporate
users - Meet other social and economic objectives such as
raising insurance awareness, professional
standards in the industry, affordability and
insurance penetration concerns, etc.
4Characteristics of Catastrophe Risk
- Low frequency but high severity events which
endanger the financial health and solvency of
insurance companies. - Frequently, in the aftermath of cat events, the
industry is no longer able or willing to continue
to provide insurance coverage for cat type risks
(the Northridge, September 9/11, Florida
Hurricanes). - Mismanagement of catastrophe risk has numerous
highly adverse social, economic and political
implications for the affected countries.
5Impact of the Luthar Storm in France and the
Northridge EQ on Domestic Insurers
2001 11 September
1994 Northridge Earthquake
1992 Hurricane Andrew
1999 Storm Lothar
Loss ratio in California in earthquake policy for
1994 1,200 (source Wharton)
6Insured and Uninsured Losses from Natural
Disasters (in US Billions)
7Impact of National Disasters on Insurance
Companies
- Potential insolvency
- Premiums raised
- Closed down of companies
8Key Challenges Faced by the Bank in Building Risk
Transfer Systems
- Lack of risk awareness at the government level
and among population - Undeveloped insurance sector
- Excessive reliance on the government as the
reinsurer of last resort - Low country incomes
- High degree of uncertainty with regard to
expected economic losses.
9Designing Effective Risk Management Programs
for Government Clients
- Risk Identification and Measurement
- Extensive use of stochastic catastrophe risk
models employing the latest scientific research
on natural hazards and utilizing stock inventory
and vulnerability data (EQECAT, RMS, AIR) - Loss control programs
- Loss prevention programs/national mitigation
efforts/enforcement of building codes,
construction supervision. - Risk transfer/risk financing
- Reinsurance
- Government
- Insurance Industry
10National Catastrophe Risk Management
Source EQE
11World Banks Role in Building National Risk
Transfer Systems
- Vulnerability of the worlds poor to natural
disasters underpins the World Banks work on risk
transfer and risk financing. - By ensuring that sufficient liquidity exists
after a disaster, risk transfer mechanisms can
help to speed economic recovery and reduce
government exposure to natural disasters.
12World Banks Role in Building National Risk
Transfer Systems
- Catastrophe risk management can also assist
countries in the optimal allocation of risk in
the economy, thus contributing toward higher
economic growth, better mitigation and more
effective poverty alleviation.
13World Banks Role in Building National Risk
Transfer Systems
- The latest examples include Banks involvement in
the design of the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance
Pool, preparation of the launch of the Disaster
Pool in the Caribbean, studies of economic
vulnerabilities to natural hazards in Honduras,
India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka,
feasibility studies on parametric weather
insurance in Morocco, Mexico and Turkey.
14Quantifying the Uncertainty The Role of World
Bank
- Independent Estimates of Countries Economic
Exposures and Vulnerability to Natural Disasters - Quantification of Economic Benefits from
Different Risk Transfer/Risk Hedging
Arrangements - Selection of Best Risk Transfer and Financing
Programs
15Quantifying the Uncertainty The Role of World
Bank
- Review of premium rates and assistance in the
design of risk transfer instruments - Determination of expected survivability of
insurance/reinsurance pools for given levels of
exposure and capitalization - Provision of risk funding facilities
- Design of Legal and Institutional Frameworks for
Risk Management
16Table 1 Reported Natural Catastrophe Exposures
in Asia, 1996-2000
1
South Asia
reported
percentage
reported
GDP
government
- loss intensities -
2
revenues
pct. GDP
pct. revenues
country
incidents
assessed
losses
mill.
India
73
9,176
2.25
12.15
19.2
407,850
75,500
Pakistan
22
0.0
52,280
9,150
Afghanistan
20
0.0
3,895
Bangladesh
7.65
66.03
48
8.3
2,879
37,650
4,360
Sri Lanka
9
0.0
11,625
2,185
Bhutan
0
0.0
430
165
Nepal
0.84
7.58
15
26.7
52
6,250
690
187
7.7
12,107
519,980
92,050
3.58
0.2859
17National Catastrophe Risk Management
Source EQE
18TCIP Historical Background
- Low EQ insurance penetration - about 2 outside
Istanbul and 15 within Istanbul almost 0 in
low-income, middle-class segment of property
market - Highly competitive, poor underwriting standards,
systemic links with the banking system - Low capital base and low level of reserves
against earthquakes in the domestic insurance
industry
19TCIP Historical Background
- Poor prospects of expanding EQ coverage since
Disaster Law mandated funding of replacement of
dwellings nearly free of charge - Insufficient technical capacity in pricing and
managing catastrophic risk in the industry - Continuous government financial exposure to EQs
- Inadequate understanding and management of EQ
risk by households and contractors
20TCIPs OBJECTIVES
- Ensure most domestic dwellings have EQ insurance.
- Reduce government fiscal exposure.
- Transfer most of catastrophe risk to
international reinsurance and capital markets. - Overtime, build up TCIPs capital base to insure
against larger events - Encourage risk mitigation and safer construction
practices
21TCIP Main Highlights
- Legislation
- Amendment of the Disaster Law
- no more government interest-free loans to
homeowners - Enactment of Earthquake Insurance Decree Law
- EQ insurance is made compulsory
- TCIP is created as the sole-source provider of EQ
coverage - TCIP was required to become operations on
September 27,00
22TCIP Main Highlights
- Legislation
- Pending Enactment by the Parliament of Earthquake
Insurance Law - introduces penalties
- enhances the Decree law
23TCIP Main Highlights
- Around 2 million policies
- Compulsory EQ cover for all registered
residential dwellings - Stand-alone product, separate from fire
(homeowners) insurance - Cover up to 20,000 per dwelling none for
contents - 15 rating categories based on hazard zone and the
type of buildings
24TCIP Main Highlights
- Cover in excess of TCIP (gt30,000) is obtainable
from private insurers - Private insurers distribute TCIP policies acting
as agents, i.e. assume no risk of loss - To eliminate penny claims and reduce
administrative and reinsurance costs of the pool,
a deductible of 2 is introduced. - Online (web-automated) policy underwriting and
data management - Independent (hired by TCIP) loss adjusters are
used in claim settlement
25TCIP Main Highlights
- Independent (hired by TCIP) loss adjusters are
used in claim settlement - Outsource extensively/no public sector employees
- Premium reserves held in creditor-proof escrow
accounts, with at least 50 invested in foreign
assets - Overall protection against losses up to 1
billion in the first 5 years - If claims exceed TCIPs available financial
resources, the GOT will step in
26TCIP Main Highlights
27GOVERNMENT SPONSORED CATASTROPHE INSURANCE POOLS
AND FUNDS
Source Guy Carpenter
28Conclusions
- Risk assessment technology and financial market
development create new options for government
risk management - Catastrophe risk pooling with government acting
as a reinsurer of last resort can be an
attractive solution for managing the countrys
risk exposure to natural disasters - Foundation for a unified country plan for
managing cat risk is a must - A bottoms- up high quality risk analysis is
essential for decision making and risk capital
financing