Insurance news

What this means for the market

Every El Niño plays out differently, and the Met Office is careful to caveat its own forecasts, so this isn’t a call to panic about a single autumn’s weather. It is, though, a strong enough signal, arriving in a flood-exposed property market already under financial strain, with models that both WTW experts say still struggle to capture how one loss triggers the next, to justify insurers, brokers and lenders stress-testing their own assumptions before the wet weather arrives rather than after.

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NorthStandard, a provider of protection and indemnity (P&I) cover, has become a member of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI), the organisation announced earlier this week. The insurer is expected to direct its involvement toward the SSI’s Human Risk & Resilience platform, a workstream aimed at making seafarer safety, welfare and workforce conditions a more visible factor in shipping’s operational and commercial decisions.

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Simon Minshall (pictured left) said Marco Capital has re-engineered PoloWorks since acquiring it in 2022 through new marketing initiatives, competitive customer propositions and leadership changes, and that Pro Global represents a natural strategic fit bringing an impressive team, complementary capabilities and a strong international footprint. He said the combination creates a stronger proposition for clients, broader opportunities for colleagues, and a platform with the scale to keep investing in technology, innovation and operational excellence.

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The firm, led by insurance veteran Peter Cullum and chief executive James McCaffrey (pictured right), signed four deals in quick succession at the end of 2025, taking stakes in drone specialist MGA Moonrock, Tree Surgeon & Forestry Insurance Services, Sturdy Edwards and Cyber Cover, before opening 2026 with an investment in RAW.

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Part of a long-running pattern of franchise buyouts

This is not Jensten’s first conversion of a Coversure franchise into a directly owned business. The group has previously acquired Coversure offices in Nottingham, Stamford, Kidderminster, Poole and Dudley, absorbing some of the network’s highest-performing franchisees as their owners look to retire or realise the value they have built.

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What the right framework looks like – and why the insurance market is already applying it

Munich Re estimated total global natural catastrophe economic losses at around $320 billion in 2024, of which only about $140 billion was insured. That protection gap – roughly 56% of economic losses uninsured – exists now, at a level already consequential for governments, businesses and their lenders, without any reference to 2050 projections. It is the kind of near-term, specific figure that actually drives underwriting decisions, reinsurance treaty structures, and credit assessments.

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What caused Wickford and Lewes is for RAIB to determine, and a preliminary finding isn’t likely for weeks. But for anyone weighing rail liability, BI or contingent BI exposure this renewal season, two derailments in 24 hours carries more weight than one. Expect cedants and reinsurers to start asking how inspection regimes and heat thresholds are being reassessed, and whether historical loss data on rail infrastructure still holds up in a summer like this one.

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Not everyone on the panel is convinced the joke has much longer to run. Colin Fox, cyber insurance consultant at Integrity, part of Hayes Parsons, was the most sceptical: “I don’t think it’s sustainable,” he said, pointing out that nobody expected the current soft cycle to outlast the last hard market by this much – rates jumped by as much as 100-150% almost overnight back in 2020-21, in his recollection, and the pendulum was assumed to swing back on a similar timescale. It hasn’t. Fox also flagged early signs of hardening in the US market, historically the bellwether for London, which he thinks could feed through to UK pricing within six to twelve months – though he’s cautious about pinning down exactly when.

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For UK and Lloyd’s market brokers, the standout line in this result is QBE’s own admission that “premium rates moderated further in property and select Lloyd’s portfolios, where profitability remains attractive” – a rare piece of insurer-side confirmation that brokers can use directly in renewal negotiations on behalf of clients in those lines. The group’s International division, which houses UK and European business, reported an improved combined operating ratio of 91.6%, down from 92.5%, aided by growth in QBE Re, select Lloyd’s portfolios and its Portfolio Solutions facilities business.

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Nearly three-quarters of England and all of Wales are officially in drought, and the Met Office has issued a rare amber extreme heat warning, with temperatures expected to reach the mid-to-high 30s across the Midlands and south-east, and a possible high of 38°C. Fire and rescue services in England and Wales had attended 1,017 wildfires in 2026 by the time of the Cobra meeting, equalling last year’s full-year record-breaking total, according to National Fire Chiefs Council data shared with the Press Association. July alone was the busiest wildfire month on record, with 393 incidents attended across England and Wales, per NFCC National Resilience data.

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