Articles | Volume 16, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-2403-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-2403-2016
Research article
 | 
21 Nov 2016
Research article |  | 21 Nov 2016

Partnerships for disaster risk insurance in the EU

Jaroslav Mysiak and C. Dionisio Pérez-Blanco

Abstract. With increasing costs inflicted by natural hazard perils, and amidst state budget cuts, concerns are mounting about the capacity of governments to design sustainable, equitable and affordable risk management schemes. The participation of the private sector along with the public one through public–private partnerships (PPPs) has gained importance as a means of providing catastrophic natural hazard insurance to address these seemingly conflicting objectives. In 2013 the European Commission launched a wide-ranging consultation about what EU action could be appropriate to improve the performance of insurance markets. Simultaneously, the EU legislator instigated major reforms in the legislation and regulations that pertain to how PPPs are designed or operate. This paper has a dual objective: first, we review and summarize the manifold legal background that influences the provision of insurance against natural catastrophes. Second, we examine how PPPs designed for sharing and transferring risk operate within the European regulatory constraints, illustrated using the example of the UK Flood Reinsurance Scheme (Flood RE) between the state and the Association of British Insurers.

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Short summary
Public–private partnerships (PPPs) have gained importance as a means of providing sustainable, equitable and affordable catastrophic natural hazard insurance. This paper reviews and summarizes the manifold legal background that influences the provision of insurance against natural catastrophes and examines how PPPs designed for sharing and transferring risk operate within the European regulatory constraints, illustrated on the example of the UK Flood Reinsurance Scheme.
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