The recent civil unrest witnessed across France has highlighted the need for Strikes, Riots and Civil Commotion (SRCC) coverage to close the insurance gap from these kinds of events, according to a new AM Best commentary.

Historically, insurers have included SRCC coverage as a standard part of a commercial policy, but as political unrest, riots and civil unrest have become more frequent and expensive, insurers have been treating these risks as unique and giving it separate consideration in underwriting. In its Best's Commentary, “Civil Unrest in France Highlights Importance of SRCC Coverage”, AM Best states that it expects the frequency and velocity of these events to increase, as social media and messaging platforms have enabled groups to increasingly organise mass demonstrations with precision and rapidity, resulting in highly correlated, simultaneous property losses across urban centres (similar to catastrophes).

Dr Mathilde Jakobsen, senior director, acting head of analytics, AM Best, and one of the commentary’s authors, said: “It is expected that most claims may arise from property risk coverage, with a limited impact on political violence and terrorism policies as a result of the limited exposure of this line of business to SRCC in France. The reinsurance impact is likely to be small due to higher retentions on property catastrophe excess-of-loss treaties and stricter terms and conditions that may make it more difficult for direct insurers to aggregate losses to reach the reinsurance threshold.”

To access a complimentary copy of this commentary, please visit http://www3.ambest.com/bestweek/purchase.asp?record_code=370028.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

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