The Financial Times – Pilita Clark

The Bank of England has written to dozens of insurance companies to assess the risk that climate change poses to their solvency and earnings, in a sign of regulators’ concern about the potential financial fallout of global warming.

In an unusual move for a central bank, it has asked about 30 insurers if they knew when changing temperatures or more frequent extreme weather disasters might start affecting “the viability of your business model”, the Financial Times has learnt.

The letter from the bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority, seen by the FT, also asks if companies have considered the way climate change could affect their investment portfolios.

The authority, which is responsible for the safety and soundness of 1,700 financial firms, hints at possible regulatory requirements, asking what insurers think of “the role of insurance regulation” in relation to climate change.

Read the full article on the Financial Times website.