DBRS Morningstar Releases Commentary on Impact of Coronavirus on Property and Casualty Insurers

DBRS Morningstar released a commentary entitled “Coronavirus: Likely Increases in P&C Insurance Claims in Certain Business Lines; Financial Markets’ Volatility Will Affect Investment Portfolios” that discusses the ways the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) can be expected to affect the Property and Casualty insurance industry.

The key highlights include:
(1) Insurance clients in the hospitality and tourism sectors are particularly exposed to incurring losses as a result of large customer concentration in one location.
(2) Event cancellation insurance is most likely to pay out compared with other policies. However, travel, business interruption, workers' compensation, and general liability policies could also be affected.
(3) The most apparent impact for insurance companies in the short term will be in the reporting of realized or unrealized gains from equity market fluctuations and movement in interest rates. This will be partly mitigated by higher underwriting revenues because of hardening of insurance markets globally.

Notes:
The commentary is available at www.dbrs.com.

For more information on this industry, visit www.dbrs.com or contact us at info@dbrs.com.

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