Reinsurance, Insurability and the New Paradigms of Unconventional Risk Transfer

Abstract

The true function of the reinsurer is widely misunderstood, even by those working in the financial markets. However, it is a crucial function to give effect to insurance business, which would always be exposed to the possibility that an outstanding loss, or a concentration of accidents, could cause default. This section introduces the traditional insurance and tries to offer an insight into the origins of the unconventional risk transfer, as an alternative to it. Financial innovation in both life and non-life sector is dealt with, and the role of securitisation in the alternative transfer processes is explained. Then we go deep into the enterprise perspective, by redefining the “cost of risk”. The new paradigms of the unconventional transfer and the transition from the Risk Warehousing to the Financial Intermediation approach are illustrated at the end.