catastrophe

Suncorp Group, the Australian primary insurance giant, has provided an update on its catastrophe and severe weather losses from the first-half of its financial year, having now gone well-over budget, but seemingly with only occurrence reinsurance to benefit the company, only one loss event is set to drive a recovery at this time.

Severe convective storms and hail across Queensland and New South Wales, Australia in late November is initially estimated to have resulted in an insurance industry loss of AU $2.663 billion (around US $1.78bn) by catastrophe data aggregator PERILS AG.

Insurance claims from recent days of severe storms and hail across Queensland and New South Wales in Australia are rising still, with this weather catastrophe set to be the most costly of the current financial year so far for the domestic market insurers.

Suncorp Group, the Australian primary insurance giant, looks set to make reinsurance recoveries to help it manage losses from the recent South East Queensland severe thunderstorms and hail, with the company saying the net cost is expected to be at its full reinsurance retention.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has declared an Insurance Catastrophe for the strong winds and damaging hail that affected South East Queensland between Sunday, November 23, and Monday, November 24, with the firm noting that insurers have already received more than 16,000 claims.

As per Verisk’s latest Quarterly Property Report, claims volume in the U.S. and Canada continued to decline in the first quarter of 2025, reaching a five-year low, even amid significant weather events across several regions.

European insurers are increasingly revisiting aggregate catastrophe cover to protect against high-frequency events, with alternative capital providers showing greater interest in supporting these structures, according to Hamish Dowlen, Managing Director and Head of EMEA at Gallagher Re.

The decommissioning of NOAA’s billion-dollar weather disaster database could force a rethink of parametric triggers used in catastrophe bonds and hamper insurers’ ability to model and price secondary perils, according to global ratings agency AM Best.

Verisk, the data analytics and technology provider, has unveiled a first-of-its-kind catastrophe model designed to quantify the financial impacts of strikes, riots, and civil commotion (SRCC) in the United States.

According to the California Department of Insurance, the insurance industry has paid $6.94 billion in residential and commercial claims to consumers in Southern California, related to the Los Angeles wildfires, as of February 5th, 2025.