Dr. Swenja Surminski:

Insurance is not just the insurance industry. Insurance is an instrument that can be provided as social insurance, as public insurance, or privately provided. Insurance per seplays the role of transferring risk and taking the bad risk away so people can undertake their business or lead their daily lives and protect their assets. It also has another role which is important. It can send risk signals. It can point out where risks are. That is a really important role but it requires transparency and trust. I sense that this is not the case here. The way this risk signalling is played does not seem to be very effective in the insurance industry at the moment. From what Mr. Owens is saying, people just get the message: "We do not insure." It is important to make sure that risk signalling can work properly.

Hard decisions will have to be made regarding whether it will be possible to protect everybody and every business and how we will move forward. I sense that is a very difficult discussion for certain areas that are already quite exposed, but that will not go away. It is important to get clarity and transparency now because the issue will not go away and in ten years' time we might have a similar discussion in other areas of the country.