catastrophe losses

PERILS AG has hiked its insurance and reinsurance market industry loss estimate for the recent Kahramanmaras Earthquake Sequence that struck Turkey and Syria in February 2023 by a significant 32%, with the estimate now at almost US $4.5 billion.

US primary insurer Allstate has brought down the top of its Nationwide excess catastrophe reinsurance tower a little, at its latest renewal, with the program now only extending to $6.924 billion of losses, compared to $7.01 billion at the end of 2022.

Insured claims paid by FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) after hurricane Ian have now reached above $3.4 billion, bringing the figure close to the lower-end of its most recent loss estimate for the major storm, Artemis understands.

The insurance and reinsurance industry loss estimate for this year’s severe flooding that affected the Auckland region of the North Island of New Zealand, has been raised by just over 6% to almost NZ $1.76 billion, by catastrophe data aggregator PERILS AG.

Catastrophe data aggregator PERILS has released an updated insurance and reinsurance industry loss estimate for the October 2022 Southeast Australia floods of AU $907 million, up roughly 8% from the previous estimate reported in January.

Annual aggregate catastrophe bonds sponsored by US primary insurance giant Allstate could come under some pressure, as the firms aggregated annual catastrophe losses across the Sanders Re cat bonds risk period soared to almost $3.67 billion after a heavy March hit from severe storms.

Global catastrophe losses that will be paid by public or private insurance and reinsurance capital are estimated to have reached $22 billion in the first-quarter of 2023, Gallagher Re has said.

US primary insurance giant Travelers has reported an elevated level of catastrophe losses for the first-quarter of 2023, which may set the tone for primary carriers in the country, as some may face a burden due to severe convective storms, tornado and typically higher reinsurance attachment points.

The increases seen in the attachment points of reinsurance covers is expected to benefit reinsurers after the first-quarter, with these moves expected to constrain losses from Q1 catastrophe events, KBW’s analysts have said, which has a positive read-across for ILS strategies.

Cincinnati Financial Corporation has announced an expectation that it will report pretax catastrophe losses of approximately $235 million, with severe US storms and tornadoes in March the main drivers.