Catastrophe Risk and Reinsurance: A Country Risk Management Perspective

A compact yet comprehensive expose of the best international practical experience in catastrophe risk management at the country level. Outlines the key challenges involved in building national catastrophe insurance schemes. Clearly illustrates how countries exposed to natural disasters can manage their catastrophe risk exposures to reduce the cost of risk for national economies by following the classical corporate risk management model. The book contains valuable practical insights for risk and insurance professionals, and government policy makers on the key challenges involved in designing a successful national catastrophe risk management programme. The international focus offers innovative insights of the foremost academics in the area alongside practical expertise from leading international reinsurance and risk professionals, based on their experience of running some of the largest catastrophe risk programmes worldwide. In addition it demonstrates the importance of public-private partnerships in catastrophe risk financing by suggesting the roles of government and private risk markets. Finally, the title examines the best international practices at each stage of catastrophe risk management including: country risk assessments and risk modelling, risk transfer products as well as optimal institutional arrangements for national catastrophe risk management, including national reinsurance and insurance pools.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Cesare Callari Introduction Eugene N. Gurenko Section 1: The institutional perspective on national catastrophe risk management 1 "Building Effective Catastrophe Insurance Programmes at the Country Level: A Risk Management Perspective" Eugene N. Gurenko 2 "Catastrophe Risk Retention and Catastrophe Pools" Rodney Lester Section 2: Catastrophe risk measurement 3 "Catastrophe Risk Models for Asia from a User Perspective" George Walker 4 "The Application of Probabilistic Earthquake Risk Models in Managing Earthquake Insurance Risks in Turkey" Dennis Kuzak, Ken Campbell and Mahmoud Khater 5 "Quantifying the Catastrophe Exposures from Cyclones, Earthquakes and Floods in 4 Indian States" Adityam Krovvidi Section 3: Risk reduction vs. risk Transfer: which strategy works best? 6 "The National Flood Insurance Programme: A Model for Risk Management" Anthony S. Lowe 7 "Flood Risk - Optimising a National Insurance Programme" Charles Scawthorn 8 "Integrating Mitigation with Risk Transfer Instruments" Howard Kunreuther, George Deodatis, and Andrew Smyth 9 "Development Enhancing Risk Management" Caroline Clarke and Neil A. Doherty 10 "New Approaches to Promote Disaster Risk Mitigation: Lessons learned in the Europe and Central Asia Region" Christoph Pusch Section 4: Public-private partnerships in catastrophe risk management 11 "Retrocession vs. Alternative Markets in Managing a Reinsurer's Accumulations" Andrew Castaldi 12 "Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund: Lessons and Experience" Jack E. Nicholson 13 "Insuring the Uninsurable : The French Natural Catastrophe Insurance System" Suzanne Vallet 14 "A Reinsurer's Perspective on the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool" Johann-Adrian von Lucius 15 "Government as Reinsurer of Last Resort: The Japanese Experience" Yuichi Takeda 16 "The Viability and Likely Pricing of "Cat Bonds" for Developing Countries" Morton Lane Section 5: Managing moral hazard and product distribution costs: key operational challenges 17 "Evidence of Market Response to Coverage Value in Some Major Catastrophe Insurance Programmes" John Seo 18 "Self-Insurance Funds in Mexico" Hector Ibarra 19 "Providing Access to Catastrophic Insurance Coverage for the Poor: Key Factors for Success" Douglas Lacey

About the Author :
Dr. Eugene N. Gurenko is a Senior Insurance Specialist at the World Bank Insurance Practice. During his career at the World Bank Group, which he joined in 1998, he designed and managed the World Bank program of technical assistance and lending to the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool, currently one of the largest earthquake insurers in the world. For his work on the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool, Mr. Gurenko received President's Excellence Award. Since then, Dr. Gurenko has been actively involved in developing catastrophe risk management solutions for the World Bank client countries. His latest assignments include the design and management of World Bank programs of technical assistance and lending in support of the catastrophe insurance programs in Turkey, Iran, Romania, India, Columbia and the Philippines. Dr. Gurenko holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University, a title of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and an associate degree in reinsurance (ARe).

Review :
"A comprehensive summary of the tools and prerequisites for natural catastrophe financing schemes, based on practical examples and top expert input from around the world. It shows that cooperation of public - and private sectors can bring the power of national insurance - and global reinsurance diversification to bear, allowing to finance even extreme disaster risk at affordable costs for the individuals. I hope the book will help many government policy makers and insurance professionals to accelerate the implementation of natural catastrophe schemes designed to the cultural and economic needs in their respective countries". Edouard Schmid, Chief Underwriter Property & Engineering, Member Executive Team Swiss Re Asia Division "A timely addition to the literature on risk management. The diversity of opinions ensure that the approach taken is comprehensive". Lloyd Foster, Transamerica Reinsurance