Liberty Mutual Re pays Mexico quake claim after weeks
Liberty Mutual Re has paid out on a parametric insurance policy in Mexico just weeks after the program began. The payout followed a magnitude 7.3 earthquake that struck off the southern coast of the country on July 17. The quake triggered coverage under ShakeNet Parametric, a system used for measuring ground motion rather than assessing physical damage. It is the second ShakeNet Parametric payout in three months, after LM Re and Safehub settled a claim in Peru 21 days after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake in May.
How the Mexico program works
The Mexican government’s insurance arrangement is administered by state-owned insurer Agroasemex and overseen by the finance ministry. Liberty Mutual Re (LM Re) serves as the lead capacity provider for the program, which is placed through broker Augment Risk and domestic broker TBS. Sensors from the Safehub network recorded shaking within 80 kilometers of the epicenter. This data activates the parametric triggers. IB Reinsurance reported the program’s launch in June, when Mexico doubled its overall parametric catastrophe insurance arrangement across perils to about US$575 million for 2026-27.
Parametric coverage pays based on specific, measurable parameters. In this case, the trigger was the recorded ground motion from the earthquake. Officials reported minor damage and no deaths in the affected areas. The program represents the largest deployment of ShakeNet Parametric to date. The policy uses ShakeNet Parametric, LM Re’s earthquake product, powered by Safehub’s sensor network and the Global Earthquake Model’s OpenQuake engine. LM Re says the sensor data reduces basis risk, but the announcement does not give the payment amount or date, or the trigger thresholds.
Leadership changes in the Nordics
Liberty Mutual Re has also appointed a new market manager for the Nordics. Fredrik H. Øyan will lead the team based in Oslo, starting November 1. He brings more than 20 years of experience in the Nordic insurance and reinsurance markets. His background includes a decade of overall underwriting responsibility for property and casualty lines. Øyan has also worked as a broker at Willis in London.
Øyan previously played a central role in expanding Protector Forsikring ASA into Sweden, Denmark, and the UK. He will work with underwriting teams in Cologne, London and Madrid to support growth in Northern Europe. Andreas Blosche, head of Northern Europe at LM Re since October 2025, said Øyan will play an important role in “strengthening our presence and partnerships across the Nordic region”. The appointment is part of a broader strategy to expand LM Re’s presence in Northern Europe.
