In the last 24 hours alone, two major European (re)insurers (Allianz and Munich Re) have decided not to renew their reinsurance business in the region.

It would now seem that Iran has become that kid with the lice at school that no-one wants to play with.

We at Reinsurance Towers decided to give a few of our favorite legal eagles a call to see if they could explain to us exactly how the sanctions could affect the (re)insurance industry and it would appear that the sanctions (if passed by Congress and echoed by the UN sanctions) will effectively ban all financial institutions offering products to any company trading or transporting refined petroleum (or materials for refining) to Iran.

I don't know about you, but to me that sounds like it could effect a hell of a lot of (re)insurers, especially in the energy and marine markets.

Hannover Re also announced its policy on Iran, but took a slightly different stance saying that it conducts a small amount of business in Iran and will only continue to do so if it complies strictly with sanctions.

So are the other (re)insurers overreacting or simply being sensible?

Only time will tell but check out our Middle East supplement in our March edition out in a couple of weeks for our thoughts.

Have a good weekend