catastrophe losses

Were the 1926 Great Miami hurricane to occur again today, analysis from catastrophe risk modelling specialists Karen Clark & Company (KCC) suggests that more than $5 trillion in insured property value would be affected by hurricane force winds, driving well over $200 billion in insurance and reinsurance market losses.

CatIQ, the Toronto-based independent catastrophe insurance data provider and a subsidiary of PERILS, has estimated the one-year industry loss caused by the flooding related to the remnants of Hurricane Debby that affected Ontario and Quebec between August 9th and 10th, 2024, to be CAD $2.806 billion.

Global reinsurance firm Hannover Re remained over its large loss budget after the first-half of 2025, but the second-quarter was a far less impactful period than Q1 which resulted in the company only ceding EUR 21 million of natural catastrophe losses with insurance-linked securities (ILS) capital sources.

Insurance industry losses from the severe hailstorm that struck the Calgary area of Canada on August 5, 2024, are estimated to have reached CAD $3.29 billion, according to CatIQ, Canada’s insured loss and exposure indices provider.

The Swiss Re Institute has estimated that global insured losses from natural catastrophe events reached US $80 billion in the first half of 2025, which is almost double the 10-year average and more than half of the firm’s projected full year figure of $150 billion.

Reinsurance firm Munich Re has estimated that global insured losses from natural catastrophe events reached US $80 billion in the first-half of 2025, a figure some 95% above the 10-year average.

Mercury Insurance has now recovered $20.05 million from its Randolph Re (Series 2024-1) private catastrophe bond transaction, after losses from the January 2025 wildfires in California exceeded the attachment and eroded some of its principal, Artemis has learned.

Catastrophe data aggregator PERILS has increased its insurance industry loss estimate for extratropical windstorm “Éowyn”, a storm that impacted the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Central Belt of Scotland in early 2025, adding 7% to take the estimate to EUR 747 million.

Insurance industry losses from the wildfires that impacted the Municipality of Jasper and Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada between July 22 and August 17, 2024 are estimated to have reached CAD $1.31 billion, according to CatIQ, Canada’s insured loss and exposure indices provider.

Legislation that calls for a Federal Catastrophe Reinsurance Program to be established has been resurrected in the United States Senate, with more support this time around and still a section of the INSURE Act highlighting the importance of capital markets alternatives to reinsurance, such as catastrophe bonds.