Date: 2025-07-02 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00026530
EVENT ...April 26, 2024
NYU: Fifth Annual Conference ... Volatility and Risk Institute
NYU Kaufman Management Center, New York, NY.
8:15am-5:30pm ET
NYU: Fifth Annual Conference ... Volatility and Risk Institute
NYU Kaufman Management Center, New York, NY.
8:15am-5:30pm ET
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
I am comfortable with the idea that 'insurance' is an essential part of the economic system.
I am not at all comfortable that 'insurance' is a safe way for people with large financial resources to rapidly increase their wealth.
I did my 'accountancy training (Articles)' with CB&Co in London. In London, I learned something about 'Lloyds of London' and how insurance worked and I have vague memories of some rich Americans getting involved with Lloyds underwriting but not understanding the implications of unlimited risk.
I have a very basic understanding of insurance and risk ... which leads me to the conclusion that what is called 'insurance' in the United States is not really insurance at all.
When I first came to work in the United States in the mid 1960s, the company I worked for had what was called a 'medical insurance plan' for its employees but when I read and understood the terms which were detailed in 'small print' it became obvious that this was really not 'insurance' at all. The plan covered routine check-ups but in the event I got really ill, I was not going to be 'covered'. Bluntly put ... the 'insurance company' was going to make a profit from doing 'not very much' ... and in the event I really needed medical care, I was 'on my own!'.
I resolved the problem at that time by purchasing separate 'major medical insurance coverage'.
It is pretty clear that the insurance industry as it is structured in the United States is not an effective 'insurance' at all, but rather something significantly less that calls itself 'insurance.
Maybe I am wrong ... but I have not seen and cannot find financial and performance data that demonstrates otherwise.
This upcoming event at NYU should be interesting. I am looking forward to hearing how climate change is being handled ... and will be handled by the insurance industry. I sense that many underwriters are unprepared for the climate changes that are coming and the claims that they should by settling. My sense is that many insurers will not have the resources to meet the claims, and in the end the public will be faced with the costs.
I may be wrong. I hope I am wrong!
Peter Burgess
April 26, 2024, 8:15am-5:30pm ET
NYU Stern Volatility and Risk Institute
NYU Kaufman Management Center, New York, NY, and Online
The Volatility and Risk Institute will host its annual conference in-person with a Zoom simulcast on Friday, April 26, 2024. The topic is 'Insurance and Rising Climate-Related Risks.' The conference is free and open to the public.
Steven Rothstein, Managing Director, Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, joins 8:30am panel 'Ceres Report: Climate Risk Management in the U.S. Insurance Sector.' Register today.
Fifth Annual Volatility and Risk Institute ... Insurance and Rising Climate-Related Risks
Friday, April 26, 2024
Fifth Annual Volatility and Risk Institute Conference Insurance and Rising Climate-Related Risks
Friday, April 26, 2024
IN-PERSON REGISTRATION | ZOOM REGISTRATION
The Volatility and Risk Institute will host its annual conference in-person with a Zoom simulcast on Friday, April 26, 2024. The topic is 'Insurance and Rising Climate-Related Risks' The conference is free and open to the public. The full conference program and registration information will be posted on this page as the conference approaches.
Tentative Agenda (subject to change, all times in ET)
8:15am: Introduction Robert Engle, NYU Stern, and Richard Berner, NYU Stern
8:30am: Steven Rothstein, Managing Director, Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets - Ceres Report: Climate Risk Management in the U.S. Insurance Sector
9:00am: Fireside Chat with Adrienne Harris, Superintendent, New York State Department of Financial Services
9:35am Executive Provider Panel
- William Berkley, Executive Chairman, W.R. Berkley Corporation (moderator)
- Erin Collins, Senior Vice President, State and Policy Affairs, NAMIC
- Frances O'Brien, Chief Risk Officer, Chubb Group
- Matt Junge, Head of Property Underwriting US, Swiss Re
11:15am: Paper Session I: Assessing the Gaps and Remedies for Them
- Parinitha Sastry, Columbia Business School - “When Insurers Exit: Climate Losses, Fragile Insurers, and Mortgage Markets” (co-authored with Ishita Sen, Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva)
- Tuomas Tomunen, Boston College, Carroll School of Management - 'Failure to Share Natural Disaster Risk'
1:00pm: Lunch Keynote: Maryam Golnaraghi, Director Climate Change & Environment, Geneva Association
1:30pm: Paper Session II (moderated by Richard Berner)
- Hyeyoon Jung, Federal Reserve Bank of New York - “Measuring the Climate Risk Exposure of Insurers” (co-authored with Shan Ge, Robert Engle, Xuran Zeng)
- Lawrence Powell, University of Alabama, Culverhouse College of Business - “Is the U.S. Insurance Industry Resilient to Climate Change? Insurer Capitalization and the Performance of State Guaranty Association” (co-authored with Kenny Wunder, Boyi Zhuang)
2:45pm: Fireside chat with Tammy Jones, CEO & Co-Founder, Basis Investment Group - Implications for Real Estate (moderated by Sam Chandan, NYU Stern)
3:15pm: Fireside chat with Nancy Wallace, UC Berkeley Haas
4:00pm: Regulator panel
- Steven Seitz, FIO Director (moderator)
- Alice Kane, Superintendent of Insurance, New Mexico
- Mike Kreidler, Commissioner of Insurance, Washington State (remote)
- Michael Peterson, Deputy Commissioner, Climate and Sustainability Branch, California Department of Insurance (remote)
5:30pm: Conference Concludes
Conference Theme
Insurers have for centuries written policies that cover losses from storms, floods and fires. Indeed the modern concept of property insurance, to mutualize the risk of loss -- or spread it across the insured population -- followed the Great Fire of London, which in 1666 consumed more than 13,000 houses.
But in the face of intensifying losses, insurers are raising premiums, denying coverage or pulling out of markets. Is climate change responsible? Is this a case of market failure with misaligned incentives, or is the market appropriately sending a signal that activity must withdraw from high-risk venues? Consumers, insurers and their regulators need to understand whether and how climate change is affecting the insurance market, in terms of availability, pricing, take-up, and financial resilience of the insurance sector.
This conference will explore the growing gaps between the risks of climate change and the capacity of insurance and reinsurance to price and manage them. It brings together insurance providers, clients, regulators/policymakers and analysts to understand the gaps and discuss remedies to reduce them, including incentives to build resilience through adaptation and the appropriate role of government to backstop losses.
If you have any questions about the conference, please contact us at vri@stern.nyu.edu.
Fifth Annual Volatility and Risk Institute Conference: Insurance and Rising Climate-Related Risks (IN-PERSON REGISTRATION)
Thank you for registering for the Fifth Annual Volatility and Risk Institute Conference on 'Insurance and Rising Climate-Related Risks'.
We look forward to seeing you on Friday, April 26, 2024. We will send an email with logistical information ahead of the conference.