The European Commission said it is too early for a cross-border pandemic insurance scheme to fill the gap left by insurers following the outbreak of Covid-19, according to a Reuters report.
The news agency reported that
John Berrigan, head of financial services at the EC, told an Insurance Europe
event that a public-private pandemic scheme to cover businesses against a
future pandemic is “a very complex debate and needs time to mature”.
Plans for a European-wide
public-private pandemic insurance scheme picked up speed towards the end of
2020, but resurgence of the virus in most European countries and the vaccine
rollout are thought to have stalled the project.
Mr Berrigan warned against
rushing into a Europe-wide approach, adding that there is no certainty about
insurer appetite for such a pandemic scheme. “I want to urge some caution here
when we are looking at the feasibility of any type of action at the EU level,”
he said.
Speaking at the same event, CEO
of Allianz Oliver Bäte said a government-backed business interruption policy is
“just not insurable”.
CRE reported in April that
progress has slowed on a pan-European risk transfer solution for non-damage BI,
in part because of national efforts to tackle second and third waves of
Covid-19.
Ferma president Dirk Wegener
said at the time: “There is concern that we have lost momentum – there are
other more important priorities than this, at least in some countries, unfortunately.”
Ferma is lobbying for a
Europe-wide pandemic risk approach, but accepted that “we need to start to walk
before we can run”.
Mr Wegener urged insurers and
risk managers to start working together on a European catastrophe resilience
scheme as a starting point. Ferma ultimately wants a pan-Europe scheme that can
later open up for other systemic risks facing today’s businesses.
CRE
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