Climate/Resilience/Sustainability
Swiss Re: Natural disaster insurance claims soar to $80B in first half of 2025
Global insured losses from natural catastrophes hit $80 billion in the first half of 2025, nearly doubling the 10-year average and signaling yet another costly year for the insurance and reinsurance industries. According to preliminary figures released by the Swiss Re Institute, this figure already exceeds half of the $150 billion projected for the full year, with the most active weather season still to come.
For insurance professionals, the implications are clear: escalating weather-related losses continue to challenge pricing, availability, and long-term risk assessment, particularly in high-exposure areas.
Historic wildfire event rocks California
The single largest loss event so far this year came early—January’s devastating wildfires in Los Angeles County caused an estimated $40 billion in insured damages, making it the largest-ever insured wildfire event by a wide margin.
Driven by an unusually long Santa Ana wind season and prolonged drought conditions, the fires destroyed more than 16,000 structures, many located in some of the country’s highest-value residential zones.
Swiss Re researchers emphasized that wildfire losses have soared due to the intersection of climate stress and real estate development. Wildfire-related insured losses, once just 1% of natural catastrophe claims before 2015, now account for 7%, with eight of the 10 costliest events occurring in the past decade.
Performance of IBHS FORTIFIED HomeTM Construction in Hurricane Sally – Center for Risk and Insurance Research | The University of Alabama
In the two decades since hurricanes Ivan and Katrina struck the coast of Alabama, availability and affordability of coastal property insurance have presented challenges to consumers along the Gulf Coast. More recently and more broadly, property insurance markets present seemingly intractable problems throughout the country, as the frequency and severity of catastrophic losses appear to increase.
This study presents the first empirical evidence of a technological solution to property insurance availability and affordability concerns. We find that IBHS Fortified construction performs at least as well as modeled in a strong category-two hurricane. By building houses to the Gold Fortified standard, and retrofitting roofs to the Fortified Roof standard, communities can substantially reduce the cost of insurance and out of pocket costs (deductibles) when an event occurs.
We also find houses that earned the Fortified designation performed better than houses built to an identical code, but without a Fortified designation. This evidence suggests that the private enforcement mechanism included in the Fortified process adds value on its own. DOWNLOAD THE STUDY
Financial Results
Zurich posts higher operating profit, does not expect tariff hit - Business Insurance
Zurich Insurance reported a 6% rise in its first-half operating profit on Thursday as individuals and businesses continued to spend on insurance policies amid concerns over severe weather-related catastrophes.
Shares in Zurich Insurance have underperformed peers this year due to the Swiss group’s high exposure to the United States and the weakened U.S. dollar, analysts have said.
Higher inflation in the U.S. risks leaving the company exposed to a hike in claims costs in its operations in the country while a weaker dollar pushes up the cost of its dividends, which are paid in Swiss francs.
In a post-earnings call with journalists, CEO Mario Greco said that while he was “confused” by U.S. tariff announcements, he did not see an impact on the insurer’s business.
Europe’s third-largest insurer by market capitalization said its operating profit was $4.2 billion in the first six months of 2025, slightly above analysts’ average estimate of $4.14 billion provided by the company.
At its core property and casualty (P&C) business, which accounts for roughly half of the company’s earnings, operating profit grew 9% year-on-year, beating analysts’ expectations.
North America is Zurich Insurance’s single largest market, responsible for more than half of the P&C segment’s operating earnings.
Chief Financial Officer Claudia Cordioli said in the call that should inflation go up again, insurance prices would adapt.
“There will be also more investments … in the U.S. as a result of (tariffs), which is beneficial for us as a construction underwriter,” she added.
Insurtech Root Swings to Q2 Profit on Growth in Partnership Channel
Root Inc. swung to second quarter net income of $22 million versus a loss of $7.8 million a year ago during the same time.
Results build off net income of $18.2 million for Q1 2025, reversing a loss of $6.2 million for Q1 2024. Net income as of June 30 was $40.4 million compared with a loss of $14 million at the same point in 2024.
Legal System Abuse/Social Inflation
Triple-I Blog | Litigation Reform Works: Florida Auto Insurance Premium Rates Declining
Florida’s top five auto insurance groups are cutting personal auto rates by a statewide average of 6.5 percent due to legislative reforms that addressed legal system abuse and assignment of benefits (AOB) claim fraud, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) announced this week.
Citizens of the Sunshine State are now clearly seeing the benefits of a more stable and affordable insurance marketplace,” Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan said.
State leaders credit the reforms for driving down both average rates and loss ratios, with Florida now reporting the lowest personal auto liability loss ratio in the United States, OIR said. Improved underwriting results and reduced litigation are helping insurers lower premiums, while increased consumer shopping is boosting competition and affordability across the state’s auto insurance market.
Resistance to reforms persists
Despite the measurable benefits to consumers, these reforms are under attack in the state legislature. HB 947 and HB 837 would undo much of this progress.
AI in Insurance
Cytora Launches Agentic AI-Powered Reasoning to Automate Pre-Decision Workflows
The new Unified Risk Reasoning capability applies active, agentic AI to streamline validation, enrichment, and finalization of risk data.
Cytora(London, England) has launched Unified Risk Reasoning, a new AI-powered capability within the vendor’s digital risk processing platform that enables full automation of pre-decision workflows for insurers, brokers, and reinsurers. Cytora develops AI-driven software for commercial insurers, enabling the digitization of risk workflows across underwriting, operations, and claims.
Unified Risk Reasoning functions as a proactive reasoning partner, using advanced agentic AI to replicate the decision-making process of a human underwriter. It automates the review, selection, and finalization of the core data fields used in insurance decisioning, addressing a key gap in traditional risk automation processes that rely heavily on manual intervention.
Sam Lewis, VP, product, Cytora . The feature applies a controllable reasoning layer, underpinned by Chain of Thought logic, to analyze data across multiple internal, external, and submission-based sources. The result is straight-through processing of risk data, improved efficiency, and reduced operational cost.
OneShield to Launch Industry’s First AI Hub to Accelerate Safe and Scalable Insurance Innovation
OneShield, a leading provider of core insurance technology solutions for property and casualty insurers and MGAs, today announced the launch of the OneShield AI Hub, the industry’s first centralized environment for the secure development, deployment, and governance of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions within the insurance software ecosystem.]
The AI Hub will serve as a centralized, secure environment where OneShield team members, clients, and partners come to learn, build, and deploy AI solutions tailored to the OneShield ecosystem. At launch, it will provide internal teams with a foundational set of AI agents and tools powered by large language models (LLMs), enabling the safe, secure, and accelerated delivery of high-impact use cases.
Doug Moore, Chief Innovation Officer, described the AI Hub as a breakthrough in how AI solutions are being designed with industry-standard interoperability. > "What makes the AI Hub special is its intentional design for interoperability and scale," Moore said. "By grounding our use cases in Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent-to-Agent (A2A) standards, we’re not just automating, we’re laying the foundation for a truly intelligent, collaborative ecosystem across carriers, MGAs, and third-party tools."
Awards
Solera’s Bill Brower Awarded PropertyCasualty360’s 2025 Insurance Luminaries Honoree - Solera
Bill Brower, Senior Vice President of Global Industry Relations and Claims Solutions at Solera, has been named to PropertyCasualty360’s Insurance Luminaries Class of 2025 in the category of Claims Innovation.
As an integral part of Solera, the global leader in vehicle lifecycle management, Bill is being recognized for the third consecutive year for his commitment to forward-thinking claims innovation. He has played a significant role in the evolution of claims workflows by embracing technology and artificial intelligence (AI), thereby paving the way for a more efficient and sustainable future for the insurance industry. His commitment has ultimately benefited policyholders, communities, and Solera’s partners.
PropertyCasualty360’s Insurance Luminaries Class of 2025 recognition celebrates innovation in the property and casualty insurance industry. The program spotlights top professionals, teams, organizations, programs, practices and products within the sector that strive to modernize and humanize the business.
The 2025 honorees were selected by a panel of industry experts based on how well they stated and achieved goals with regards to the nomination category; how impactful their work has been; how dedicated the nominee has been to furthering modernization and humanization in the P&C insurance business; and how committed and dedicated the nominee has been to high ethical standards, service and excellence.
InsurTech/M&A/Finance💰/Collaboration
Q2 global insurtech funding declines 14.4% - Business Insurance
Second-quarter global insurtech funding totaled $1.09 billion, off 14.4% from second-quarter 2024, according to a report Thursday from Gallagher Re, the reinsurance business of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
Insurtech funding for the second quarter was also down 16.7% from first-quarter 2025 levels.
Funding for property/casualty insurtechs of $362.2 million was down 68% from the first quarter as just two of the 10 largest second-quarter deals went to property/casualty insurtechs, compared with nine of 10 in the first quarter.
Life/health funding, meanwhile, nearly tripled from first quarter to $728.5 million, the highest total since second-quarter 2022.
Second quarter continued the trend of artificial intelligence drawing funding, with 57.1% of second-quarter insurtech deals going to AI-centered companies.
Since the inception of such record keeping in 2012, AI-centered companies have netted some 25% of all insuretech funding, or approximately $15 billion.
Almost $61bn has been raised and invested in InsurTechs since 2012
As per a new report from reinsurance broker Gallagher Re, around $60.8 billion has been raised and invested in InsurTech firms since its records began in 2012, with around 25% directed toward AI-focused companies.
Report author and Gallagher Re’s Global Head of InsurTech, Andrew Johnston, noted that while $60 billion represents substantial capital, it is dwarfed by the amount of investment being deployed into artificial intelligence (AI) more broadly.
Johnston commented, “Our industry is undoubtedly committing to AI, but it should increase its focus, if anything.
“It is incumbent upon InsurTechs, AI companies and our industry to utilise and showcase the best use-cases of this technology, if we are to remain relevant to the society we support and protect.
“There remains some scepticism in re/insurance of just how impactful AI could be, but it is becoming clearer that this is a once-in-a-generation technology that is ignored at our peril.”
Aviva Partners with Sønr to Accelerate Innovation and Drive Growth
Aviva, the UK's leading diversified insurer, has appointed Sønr to help drive its innovation strategy over the next two years. The partnership will see Sønr working closely with Aviva's central innovation team and business units across the company, leveraging its market intelligence platform and global research capabilities to identify opportunities.
(From left: Sønr CEO, Matt Connolly; and Aviva Chief Innovation Officer, Arslan Hannani discussing how innovation is evolving at the recent ITC Europe conference.)
Through this collaboration, Sønr will provide Aviva with real-time intelligence on emerging market and technology trends, track competitor activity, and scout the most promising tech companies to support Aviva's needs. The aim is to ensure Aviva stays ahead in a rapidly evolving insurance landscape by embracing cutting-edge innovation and venture clienting.
Industry Leaders on the Partnership
Matt Connolly, CEO of Sønr, commented:
"We're absolutely delighted to be working with Aviva. This partnership is another great example of the growing demand for the market intelligence we provide. The insurance industry is evolving fast, and there is a real appetite for better ways to engage with emerging technologies and new business models. Aviva is a company that truly understands the value of innovation, and we're excited to help strengthen its position at the forefront of the industry."
Today
Progressive Could Soon Breach Excess Profits in Florida Auto, Triggering Refunds
Despite a significant reduction in personal auto insurance rates in Florida this year, Progressive may soon find itself in the unenviable position of sending small refunds to thousands of current and former policyholders.
The corporation’s quarterly 10Q filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reports that it could exceed Florida’s statutory profit limit for the three-year period from 2023 to 2025. By law (Florida Statutes 627.066 and 627.915) the insurer must report the excessive profits on a form. FULL ARTICLE
Recommended Events
CIECA to Debut Innovation Showcase at CONNEX 2025 Annual Conference - Autobody News
A lineup of speakers will present real-world examples of how technology is being used in the collision industry.
CIECA to Debut Innovation Showcase at CONNEX 2025 Annual Conference
The Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA) announced that as part of its 16th annual conference, CONNEX 2025, an Innovation Showcase will take place this year with presenters sharing real-world examples of how technology is being used in the collision industry.
The conference will be held Sept. 23-25 at the Hilton Nashville Green Hills in Nashville, TN. This year’s theme is "Insights to Innovation: The Future of Collision Industry Technology" and will be emceed by industry veteran Bill Garoutte.