Protection and indemnity clubs

Document description

P and I Clubs were one of the insurance industry's best kept secrets. Although they have been in existence for over 100 years, insuring 90% of the free world's shipping, they were rarely in the news until the last two years. The majority of Clubs have recently suffered total claims far exceeding the estimates on which they based their Calls (Club terminology for premiums). Some of the deficits have fallen on the shipowners - the Club members - but a large amount has hit the London Market via reinsurance. Much has been written about the resulting P and I Crisis, but very little has been published about how the Clubs and their reinsurers got into the positions they did: whether they could have been foreseen, what lessons they have learned etc.