As we come to the end of another eventful year, Insurance Journal looks back at some of the best international stories, which of course were dominated by the Russian-Ukrainian war. Three of the top 10 stories in 2022 covered the ramifications of the war, and many more related to the conflict were covered by IJ in the months following the invasion.
Other reports that captured the most readership covered topics such as hard market trends, escalating cyberattack costs, the end of the blockchain industry (B3i) project, a case of Swiss Re gender discrimination and a potentially dangerous solar storm (which was really international/global news)
Here are the top 10 articles from International Insurance Review for 2022:
This article, published in April, warned of an impending solar storm that could potentially lead to damaging geomagnetic activity, affecting power grids, airlines and satellites. The good news is that earthlings barely noticed the storm and the others that followed, but they did notice the article that garnered tens of thousands of readers.
Airplane crash stories always get a lot of attention from IJ readers. This piece about a DHL-operated cargo plane that broke in two in Costa Rica, topped with a dramatic photo, was no exception. Fortunately, the pilots escaped without serious injuries.
Over the past few years, there has been some debate about whether the market is getting “hard” or “hard”. Bank of America put that argument to rest with a report in October, saying real estate catastrophe rates are officially “hard,” which will lead to imbalances between supply and demand.
The industry aimed to improve market efficiency and reduce costs with its blockchain initiative, B3i, launched in 2016. After nearly six years of effort, B3i announced in July that it was ceasing operations and had filed for insolvency. The failure was blamed on the lack of end-to-end contracts, starting with the initial insurance risk and ending with a digital reinsurance contract.
This article details the escalating costs of cyberattacks, highlighted by the fact that $600 million in cash was stolen or held for ransom in just 10 cyberincidents in 2021. In those 10 cyberattacks, tens of millions of records citizens were robbed, 40,000 business IT operations were put at risk, the details of a billion air passengers were compromised and at least one bank was effectively closed for more than a week.
- Inside Allianz’s $4 billion structured alpha fund explosion: Red flags and big fees
Allianz to pay over $6 billion for structured alpha fraud, ex-fund manager charged
Two articles in the top 10 of international stories covered the dramatic collapse of Allianz’s Structured Alpha hedge fund. We have combined these items into number 6 of the list. They attracted many readers because of the cost of the collapse for industry giant Allianz – both financially and reputationally. After all, careers are over and investor lawsuits and settlements are piling up. The articles attempt to answer the question of what went wrong.
No further comment on this article is necessary after reading the headline and lead paragraph, which follows: “A former Swiss Re AG underwriter has won her gender discrimination case after being humiliated by a senior executive who told her ‘If I had breasts like yours, I would be demanding too.
With the jury still out on the effectiveness of Western sanctions against Russia, an International Monetary Fund economist said in April that Russia’s economy would not recover from sanctions anytime soon and could see further damage if these sanctions were extended to hit energy exports. A little over seven months later, December 5Western nations have indeed extended the sanctions by imposing a $60 a barrel oil price cap on Russia’s oil exports.
As part of Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its attack on Ukraine, Greece seized a Russian tanker, which was published later due to confusion over the sanctions regime. Seizures of Russian tankers and planes as well as jets and yachts of oligarchs have been in the headlines since the invasion of Ukraine in February.
It will take many years and many legal battles to determine the ultimate price of the Russian-Ukrainian war. S&P Global Ratings’ estimated losses could range from $16 billion to $35 billion. This wide range of results shows the degree of uncertainty involved. What is certain, however, is that the risks range from aerial losses (more than 400 people hired jets that were confiscated in Russia) to other specialty lines such as trade credit, political risk (contract frustration, agriculture and commodities), cyber, political violence and maritime hull warfare.
Because there were three Russian-focused topics in our Top 10 International Articles, we’ve added a bonus article to number 11. Here, a Markel executive warns buyers to avoid short-term price advantages over to long-term relationships. According to Nic Brown, Division Director – Broker, Markel UK: “It is important that buyers have a long memory and support providers and insurers who have continued to work with brokers and policyholders throughout the difficult market.
Related:
And from previous years:
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