Willis Re: Europe-wide windstorm Christian insured loss €800m to €1.3 billion

Reinsurance brokerage Willis Re has published a Europe-wide estimate of the insured losses resulting from last weeks European windstorm Christian. Willis Re estimates that the insurance industry will face losses of between €800m and €1.3 billion from the storm.

Last week Willis Re released an early estimate of insured losses for the UK, the first country to be hit by windstorm Christian. This early estimate was based on modelled losses and at the time Willis Re said that the insurance industry in the UK alone could face losses of £300m to £500m (€355m to €590m). Willis Re says that recent information suggests that the UK estimate may be overstated somewhat, but cautions that the picture remains unclear so soon after the event.

For Germany, Willis Re estimates insured losses from Christian of €250m to €400m. Denmark is less certain, but Willis Re puts an early estimate for insured losses of €160m to €325m for this country. In addition, further losses of around €50m are expected for Sweden and the Nordic region.

For the Netherlands, Willis Re notes that the Dutch Insurance Association has estimated insured losses of €105m, but Willis Re said that this may not include all classes of business and so puts its own estimate of insured losses at €100m to €150m. Willis Re says that it expects insured losses from France and Belgium to be low.

So the total insured loss estimate for European windstorm Christian of between €800m and €1.3 billion ($1.08 billion to $1.76 billion) from Willis Re is quite a bit lower than the early estimate published by ILS asset manager Credit Suisse, who put losses at $1.7 billion to $2.9 billion last week. However we are beginning to establish a range to work with, albeit it quite wide currently at around $1 billion to $3 billion.

Willis Re puts the scale of damage from European windstorm Christian as being close to windstorm Xynthia in 2010.

Dr John Alarcon, Executive Director at Willis Re, commented; “While definitely not one of the largest windstorms to have ever affected Europe, it is the largest windstorm in Europe since the 2010 loss when Windstorm Xynthia cost the industry around €1.3 billion. This storm could potentially equal Xynthia in terms of insured loss, but is unlikely to exceed it.”

We will continue to update you as new estimates for the insured losses from windstorm Christian emerge.

Read our earlier articles on Christian:

– Windstorm Christian insured losses $1.7bn to $2.9bn estimates Credit Suisse

– Willis Re: UK insured losses from windstorm Christian £300m to £500m

– Plenum: No impact expected to cat bonds from European windstorm Christian

– PERILS to assess European windstorm Christian loss potential

– European windstorm Christian threatens UK and northern Europe