ORIGINAL ARTICLE IN PDF HERE. MONTE-CARLO TODAY DAY 4 MAGAZINE HERE (EMAG)
There is a potentially big opportunity for the insurance-linked securities (ILS) markets to develop parametric cat bonds that could cover some of the growing risks in Eastern Europe and Western areas of Asia, according to Kirill Savrassov, chief executive of PhoenixCRetro.
Savrassov told Monte Carlo Today that for a wide range of historical reasons insurance penetration remains very low in various countries of the former Soviet Union, as well as Turkey and parts of former Yugoslavia. Those areas are highly vulnerable to earthquakes, such as the ones that devastated Armenia and Tashkent over the past 50 years.
Savrassov pointed out that a huge amount of investment is being poured into the region by the Chinese government, which is seeking to expand its economic footprint with its Belt and Road Initiative, an economic project to essentially recreate the ancient Silk Road that linked Europe to Asia.