A global recession of unprecedented and ongoing severity has gripped the UK and world economies over the past two years. During this time companies have been forced to respond to rapid and overwhelming changes in trading conditions – and this has caused a systemic seismic shift in the corporate risk landscape. Mactavish has undertaken a major programme of research in 2009 to analyse the sectors of the UK economy most affected by the downturn. The main focus of this study was to understand how corporate risk exposures have changed and how this impacts the demand for, and supply of, insurance capital.
In particular, this study’s interest lies in analysing changes to high-severity risk: exposures where a major loss could threaten the viability of even large businesses and carry a material level of cost to insurers. In addition, we are also interested in systemic developments in higher frequency loss types where the aggregate impact is also material.
