Town Hall Meeting: Weather Risk Management: What Does it Mean and Where is it Going?
- Indicates paper has been withdrawn from meeting
- Indicates an Award WinnerWikipedia defines Weather Risk Management as “a way for organizations to limit their financial exposure to disruptive weather events.” The Weather Risk Management Association defines it as “having two facets: (1) The management of the financial consequences adverse weather for those with natural exposure to weather; and (2) Commercial trading of weather risk, both in its own right and in conjunction with a variety of commodities. “ Willis Group’s website cites “Traditional insurance offers protection against events such as floods and storms, but in the UK and in Europe there is not yet a wide use of protection against the effects of seasonal weather patterns such as temperature, rainfall or sunshine. However, these factors can have a major influence on corporate results and many firms publicly acknowledge this. As weather hedging becomes more commonplace, blaming the weather for poor results will become less acceptable.” The CME Group says “To help manage [the] impact on consumers and corporations, CME Group’s product slate has grown to meet customer needs by offering multiple risk management opportunities related to temperature, snowfall, frost, rainfall and hurricanes in more than 50 cities worldwide. Weather futures and options are available for block trading, which are privately negotiated futures, options, or combination transactions.” The term “Weather Risk Management” means many different things across our professional community. Weather trading, commodity trading, insurance, reinsurance and hedging are all terms of art. But what does it all really mean?? Who protects their business from weather risk? What information do they need in order to ‘manage weather risk?’ What is weather risk?? What does Weather Risk Management mean for meteorologists? What opportunities does it present? How have those opportunities changed since the first financial products were introduced in the late 1990s? Where is the market headed and what does that mean for information providers, experts, and customers? Join our panel of experts as we discuss the future for Weather Risk Management.