Insurance business insecure and uncertain as Covid-19 damage claims mount

Insurance companies around the world were sailing smoothly until late February, when markets realised Covid-19's impact. Now, is insurance secured to survive? Joydeep Ghosh explains

"Wimbledon’s organisers set for a $141 million insurance payout after Covid-19 pandemic," said news headlines in the second week of April after the tournament set for late June was cancelled.

The All England Lawn Tennis Association had paid annually $2 million as pandemic insurance premium for 17 years—a far-sighted decision. The payout is good news for the Association as it will offset some of its losses, but insurers and reinsurers must be worried.

The pandemic, perhaps the worst since the Spanish flu of 1918, has spread its fangs across industries: global trade (except for medicines) has ceased, supply chains have