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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.