The consultation is the start of a process examining a move to a more contemporary way of providing cover to an insurance market that has changed significantly since Pool Re’s scheme was set up in 1993. As part of the proposed treaty model, there is an intention to bifurcate terrorism between conventional and non-conventional risk, to enable members to increase retentions for conventional terrorism, thereby returning risk to the private market, without taking on any additional exposure to CBRN or cyber-triggered terrorism.
Running until the end of October 2022, the consultation will collect feedback from members, capture any issues involved in the change and highlight potential alternatives. The process will involve detailed dialogue with members throughout.
“Central to Pool Re’s success has been its ability to evolve whilst still delivering on its core purpose of providing confidence and resilience to the UK economy in the event of a catastrophic terrorist event. We have been discussing the idea of changing the way we provide terrorism reinsurance since 2018 and we believe there is a broad consensus that change would help deliver a scheme that better deals with the contemporary threat and is fit for the modern insurance marketplace.
“Our twin objectives of returning more risk to the private market and driving greater awareness and penetration of terrorism cover, especially amongst SMEs, inform the proposal for a switch to a treaty reinsurance model. This should simplify the way in which our scheme operates and give members the flexibility to price terrorism cover for their policyholders as they see fit. We hope this could also encourage the reincorporation of terrorism into many standard property packages. For most non-urban risks this could likely be achieved at little or no extra cost, a change which could see many more SMEs protected against terrorism up and down the country.
"Should Pool Re transition to a treaty type mechanism, there will be a number of important changes to the way the scheme works. It is therefore vitally important that we get this right. The views of our members are a critical input into the process.”
The process of transitioning to a treaty model will also require Pool Re to work closely with its regulators, HM Treasury and other stakeholders and will ultimately be subject to the approval of members and HM Treasury.
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