Global commercial insurance pricing increased for the third consecutive quarter in Q2 2018, largely driven by insurance pricing for property lines, which continued to be affected by 2017 catastrophe losses, and by increases in financial and professional lines, the latest data published by Marsh show.

What we generically call "Cyber risk" is, in fact, a family of risks and it is worth observing if there is a commonality in the perception - thus management - of the risk in the academic, risk management, insurance and policymaking communities. The present study found that cyber breach is perceived as "critical" due in part to its own nature and, importantly, in part to the weak understanding of its impact and our preparedness.

Five insurance entities are listed among the largest public companies by their market capitalization in USD as at 31 March 2018, according to the latest edition of the PwC's Global Top 100: the US domiciled Berkshire Hathaway, the Chinese Ping An Insurance, China Life Insurance and AIA Group and the German Allianz.

Natural disasters across the world caused significantly lower losses in 1H 2018 than usual. According to provisional figures, overall losses were around USD 33 billion, the lowest level since 2005 (USD 29 billion after adjustment for inflation), MUNICH Re said today.

Overall, extreme weather events led to a multi-billion dollar economic toll, of which insurers have to pay more than USD 3 billion in claims for US losses alone, the latest edition of Aon's monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report shows. Economic losses in the Central and South-Eastern Europe amounted some hundred million USD, but weather continued also in July, adding extra costs which may also amount to significant sums.

Global insurance premiums increased 1.5% in real terms¹ to nearly USD 5 trillion in 2017, after rising 2.2% in 2016, the latest sigma report reads. Growth in both the life and non-life sectors slowed. According to Swiss Re Institute next years will see the life insurance segment's premiums improving driven by the strong growth in the emerging markets, especially China, while the strengthening economy of the US will lead the non-life global market's development.

Insurance markets of the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) are expected to continue outgrowing the region's GDP over the next 12 months. Personal lines business remains the key growth driver, with primary insurers benefiting from compulsory insurance requirements as well as regulatory actions supporting rates, the latest edition of the MENA Insurance Pulse reads.

Four of the Top 5 global M&A deals, in the financial sector in 2017, totalizing USD 28.8 billion, occurred on the insurance sector's stage. The absolute star of the season was the acquisition of the US based XL Group's by the French AXA, for a total consideration of USD 15.26 billion.

Complying to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), effective from 25 of May 2018, is currently one of the most challenging issues for many organizations. Even in the absence of a personal data breach incident, companies may face regulatory assessments resulting in fines and penalties. Moreover, companies operating on several territories, including the EU, may encounter situations interesting several jurisdictions with different legislation. How much can insurance help organization to manage this kind of operational risks?

Man-made risks like cyber-crime, interstate conflicts or market crashes are a bigger threat to economic output than natural disasters, putting an estimated USD 320.1 billion of global GDP at risk on average each year, according to Lloyd's City Risk Index. Built in collaboration with Cambridge University, the study measures the impact of 22 threats on 279 cities' projected economic output.

Such a reading is also the most recent report of the GENEVA Association (details on them, HERE), suggestively titled "Understanding and Addressing Global Insurance Protection Gaps". Summarily, the material analyzes and seeks solutions for the so-called insurance protection gap. The phenomenon of under-insurance, on a global scale.

"While our trust in assistance systems remains unbroken, and their usage increases, humans are still held accountable and are expected to be able "take over the wheel" any time. While the law treats drivers mainly as it used to, actual driving practice and alertness are decreasing. The consequent widening skills gap not only impacts insurance risk, but also operational risks." This is just one of the risk evolving trends identified by the Swiss Re's 2018 SONAR report.

Despite the rapid movement of the modern world towards digitalization, high technology and process sophistication, the longtime existing agricultural industry remains important for satisfying the primary needs of humanity in food and basic material. In parallel with all technological development people are returning to forgotten principles of sustainable nutrition. Can agricultural industry support this trend? Which challenges agricultural industry experience itself in the era of climate change? We have discussed these and other questions with Olena SOSENKO - International expert in agricultural risk management.

Cyber-risk insurance is becoming an increasingly significant part of Insurance programs for corporate clients.

The CEE insurance market saw a 11.5% y-o-y growth in 2017, statistical data gathered by XPRIMM show. Overall, GWP amounted to EUR 36.12 billion. With a similar increase, paid claims reached almost EUR 22 billion. The forthcoming issue of the XPRIMM Insurance Report for FY2017, to be launched on May 14, will present in depth information in this regard.

By 2020, Serbia should adopt new regulation in the field of insurance, which would follow the requirements in the process of European integration. The biggest challenge will be the adoption of the new Law on Compulsory Traffic Insurance, to replace the current Law adopted in 2009.

The EU is set to introduce an entirely new class of pension products, according to a proposal by the European Commission currently under debate. Here comes the... PEPPs.

In 2017 all natural disasters cost USD 353 billion, with insurance industry in position to handle high volume of claims payouts and explore future growth to build resilience in underinsured regions, says Aon.

Evolving nature of risk, and rise in cyber-related incidents, means business interruption ranks as top threat for companies globally, according to 1,900+ risk experts from 80 countries, the latest Allianz Risk Barometer shows. On the other hand, while the economic state of the global economy seems to arouse less concern, the strong wave of Nat Cat events brought by the second half of 2017 has placed once again natural catastrophes and climate change up on the risk agenda.

In a recently published report S&P Global Ratings said that operating conditions for Russian reinsurers have become considerably more complex over the past few years In the agency's view, the market has become more concentrated, in part because of an increase in minimal capital requirements since 2012. The Russian reinsurance market lacks internal capacity and remains heavily dependent on reinsurance protection from developed markets.