Swiss Re warns $300B cat year looming

Switzerland-based Swiss Re Ltd. has warned that the global insurance industry could soon experience its first $300 billion year of insured catastrophe losses as extreme weather, urban exposures and rising social unrest strain reinsurers’ balance sheets, Global Reinsurance reported. Leopoldo Camara, head of property and casualty reinsurance for northern, central and eastern Europe, said catastrophe losses have exceeded $100 billion annually for five straight years, with the next decade likely to see a $300 billion event.