The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said its reinsurance renewal for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) included the transfer of nearly $758 million to the private market through the use of 27 reinsurance companies – up from 18 companies a year ago.

Elizabeth Asche, FEMA’s assistant administrator for federal insurance and senior executive of NFIP, said the agency’s use of more reinsurers strengthened its “commitment to use private sector reinsurance to enhance the NFIP’s ability to pay flood insurance claims.”

FEMA used Guy Carpenter to provide broker services during the renewal process.

The 2025 reinsurance placement covers portions of NFIP losses above $7 billion from a single qualifying flood event. FEMA will pay total premium of about $140 million for the coverage.

The agreement is structured to cover:

• About 12 percent of losses between $7 billion and $9 billion.
• About 26 percent of losses between $9 billion and $11 billion.

Combined with the three capital markets reinsurance placements in 2022, 2023 and 2024, FEMA said it has transferred about $2.1 billion of the NFIP’s flood risk to the private sector. If a named storm flood event is large enough to trigger all reinsurance agreements, FEMA will receive qualifying payments.

Source: FEMA