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Some of the world’s biggest insurers plan to work together on an assessment of the best cybersecurity defenses available to businesses, an unusual collaboration that highlights the rising dangers posed by digital hackers, the Wall Street Journal reported. The program, which is being launched today by the Marsh brokerage unit of Marsh & McLennan Co., will evaluate cybersecurity software and technology sold to businesses. Marsh will collate scores from participating insurers, which will individually size up the offerings, and identify the products and services considered effective in reducing cyber risk. The results will be available to the public on Marsh’s U.S. website. Corporate policyholders that use the designated offerings may qualify for improved terms and conditions on policies negotiated individually with participating insurers, Marsh said. Insurers that have agreed to participate include Allianz SE, AXA SA, Axis Capital Holdings Ltd., Beazley PLC, CFC Underwriting Ltd., Munich Re, Sompo International and Zurich Insurance Group AG, according to Marsh.

PG&E Corp. arrived in chapter 11 bankruptcy at six minutes after midnight on Tuesday, saying it has an immediate need to borrow $1.5 billion as it launches what it says will be a long turnaround effort, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The loan, from a syndicate of Wall Street lenders led by JPMorgan Chase & Co., will grow to $5.5 billion, or even higher, if it is approved by the bankruptcy court. There’s room in the loan package for additional borrowing of up to $4 billion if PG&E convinces a judge it needs the money for a prolonged bankruptcy stay, court papers say. According to PG&E, the financing is designed to keep it going for years, as it tackles liabilities for deaths and damage from wildfires linked to its equipment, liabilities that it says could add up to $30 billion.

Insurance claims from California's deadly November 2018 wildfires have topped $11.4 billion, making the series of fires one of the most expensive in state history, the Associated Press reported. More than $8 billion of those losses are from the fire that leveled the town of Paradise, killing 86 people and destroying roughly 15,000 homes, state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said. Roughly $3 billion worth of damage is related to two Southern California wildfires that ignited during the same week. "We have a long way to go before we can feel whole again," Lara said after announcing the numbers. The $11.4 billion total is slightly below the losses claimed from 2017 wildfires that ripped through Northern California wine country in October and Southern California in December. While far more houses were destroyed in last year's wildfires, home values are much lower in rural California communities, officials said last year. The losses could keep rising. In all, wildfire insurance claims in California last year neared $12.4 billion, Lara said.

Massive storms, wildfires and other catastrophes wreaked havoc on communities, the economy and the insurance industry in 2018. But they won’t be enough to drive up property-reinsurance prices in 2019, brokers and executives say, the Wall Street Journal reported. Reinsurers provide insurance to other insurers, covering losses from disasters if damages reach a certain contractual threshold. Natural and human-made catastrophes caused an estimated $79 billion in insured losses in 2018 and $150 billion in 2017 — the worst two-year period on record, according to Swiss Re. In the past, large disasters would typically trigger a wave of price increases through the industry. But as negotiations for 2019 contracts progressed over recent weeks, insurers appeared less willing to pay reinsurers more for property-catastrophe coverage. “Reinsurers are trying to push the pricing, which is similar to what they did last year, but I don’t think they’re going to be able to get it,” said Kapil Bhatia, managing director at Raymond James & Associates. The reason is an oversupply of capital. Pension funds, endowments and other large investors seeking diversification and higher returns have plowed billions into catastrophe bonds and other insurance-linked securities over the past decade, allowing insurance companies to turn elsewhere for help paying claims after hurricanes or earthquakes.

California utilities are facing the very real possibility that billion-dollar blazes could become an annual occurrence, and they don’t know how to pay for them, Bloomberg reported. Shares of the state’s two largest utilities plummeted yesterday after both PG&E Corp. and Edison International released reports suggesting their equipment may have started the deadly fires now burning at both ends of the state. PG&E was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 Index and trading in its shares halted briefly early in the session before closing down 17 percent. Edison slumped 12 percent. Three of the worst fires in California history have occurred in the last 13 months. They’ve come as scientists blame global warming for altering the state’s water cycle, parching vegetation and causing hot and dry weather patterns to stall over the region, even during the state’s annual rainy season. Both PG&E and Edison are still adding up the billions of dollars in costs from deadly wildfires sparked last year by their equipment. PG&E already faced up to $17.3 billion in potential liabilities for 2017’s Northern California wildfires, according to a JPMorgan Chase & Co. estimate. Those blazes killed 44 people. Susquehanna Financial Group estimated Monday that the Camp Fire, which wiped out the town of Paradise last week and has killed at least 29 people, could add as much as $5 billion.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a former insurance industry wunderkind with fraud, claiming he and an associate diverted more than $300 million from insurers they controlled and caused the companies to become insolvent, the Wall Street Journal reported. The civil charges against Alexander Chatfield Burns include allegations that he and the associate “raided those insurance companies of their funds” and replaced them with assets that were either worthless or grossly overvalued, including a supposed Caravaggio painting “of questionable authenticity.” The alleged scheme was carried out by a New York-based company, Southport Lane Management LLC, that Burns created while in his early 20s. Through Southport, Burns and associates gained control of several insurance companies starting in 2013, then allegedly began diverting the insurers’ assets. The alleged scheme collapsed in early 2014, when Burns checked into a mental-health ward at New York’s Bellevue Hospital, leaving behind an affidavit describing an unusual series of asset transfers.

Pension funds, endowments, wealthy families and other large investors could be on the hook for a portion of damages caused by Hurricane Michael, particularly if the storm intensifies, the Wall Street Journal reported. The exposure for these large investors stems from their ownership in catastrophe bonds, which are issued by insurers or entities seeking insurance. The investors receive interest payments but can lose their principal if certain disasters occur. About $15.7 billion in outstanding catastrophe bonds have potential exposure to Florida, where Michael was set to make landfall, according to reinsurance broker Aon Securities. In addition to cat bonds, some of these investors also have exposure to hurricane risk through other types of insurance-linked securities.