It doesn’t bear thinking about, does it? The prospect of a 9/11 style terrorist attack hitting London is something few of us wish to contemplate – however, the insurance industry definitely has the prospect of such a disaster in mind.
According to a
Reuters report, the London insurance market is planning to test its response to a major catastrophe later this month – either a major terrorist attack or a natural disaster.
The newswire quotes
Hiscox chairman Rob Childs as outlining that while insurers around the world have coped with hurricanes, earthquakes and more over the years, there is a need to prepare for something on the scale of the 2001 attacks on US cities that killed close to 3,000 people.
Now, having been given test scenarios, brokers and insurers will engage in meetings during the two weeks beginning on October 30 to plan out how they would respond to customers, Childs told
Reuters.
London is one of the leading centres when it comes to insuring properties and businesses against catastrophes, primarily via the Lloyd’s of London market. According to Childs, while there have been disasters since 9/11, it’s necessary to prepare again.
“How one deals with a major catastrophic event is moving out of folk memory,” he told the newswire.
“The people who did it before have forgotten what they did, the people making the decisions now were probably still in school. We need to run through a process and flush out any issues.”
Hiscox is set to be at the forefront of the simulation that is likely to involve around 10 insurers, along with Lloyd’s of London, S&P Global and a host of insurance brokers.
