A major space storm could cost insurers even more than a hurricane like Katrina ($55 billion in 2005, or $90 billion today) given the capacity to interfere with radio communications, power grids, spacecraft and satellite navigation. According to a new report from Bloomberg Intelligence (BI), the May 10-12 space storm may just be a taste of what's to come, with the current solar cycle forecast to peak in 2025.

Natural catastrophes will once again break several loss records in 2023. A high number of low-to-medium-severity events will aggregate to insured losses of more than USD 100 billion in 2023, estimates Swiss Re Institute, with severe thunderstorms (severe convective storms, SCS) being the main contributor. It is the first time ever that severe thunderstorms have caused this level of loss for the industry.

The global modeled insured average annual loss from natural catastrophes is $133 billion, a new high captured in the latest analysis using Verisk’s extreme event solutions models. Not only should the insurance industry be prepared to experience total insured losses from natural catastrophes well in excess of $100 billion every year, but annual losses greater than $200 billion are also plausible. These values are up significantly over the decade, according to the 2023 Global Modeled Catastrophe Losses Report published by Verisk.