The major reinsurance groups are excluding Russia, Ukraine and Belarus from their policies in the January treaty renewals and reducing their cover for losses caused by hurricanes in the USA.

This is according to a report published by reinsurance broker Gallagher Re on Tuesday. Some industry representatives have already withdrawn from insuring in the three countries because they fear sanctions or high losses. For many reinsurers, however, the important renewal round at the beginning of the year is the first opportunity to adjust policies with a term of twelve months due to the war in Ukraine, which began last February. From January 1, it will be "very difficult to find insurance cover for the region", said James Vickers, President of Gallagher Re International, to the news agency Reuters.

Large reinsurers such as Munich Re and Swiss Re had recently withdrawn from covering war risks for ships in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus and several large marine liability insurers had therefore excluded these risks from their policies at the turn of the year.

Due to increasing losses from natural disasters, some of which are caused by climate change, reinsurers are also less and less willing to insure US properties threatened by hurricanes. In 2022, hurricane "Ian" and other natural events caused insurance losses estimated at 115 billion dollars, making last year one of the most expensive catastrophe years for the insurance industry.

(Report by Carolyn Cohn, written by Paul Arnold, edited by Ralf Banser. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for business and markets).)