Hiscox declares claims estimate for Irma and Harvey

Combined estimate announced due to interrelated nature of events

Hiscox declares claims estimate for Irma and Harvey

Insurance News

By Paul Lucas

Want to get a grip on the full economic impact of hurricanes Harvey and Irma? Look no further than specialist insurer Hiscox.

The company has today revealed its first estimate of the combined impact of the two hurricanes due to the interrelated nature of reinsurance recoveries for the two events. According to an insured market loss of US$35 billion for Irma and US$25 billion for Harvey, it places its new claims at approximately US$225 million.

Group CEO Bronek Masojada highlighted that this should be within the group’s modeled range for events of this nature – pointing to the depth of its reinsurance program.

“Paying claims from devastating events like these is precisely what we are here for. Our focus is to get our customers back on their feet as quickly as we can,” Masojada said.

“These events are already having an impact on rates in the global insurance market, particularly in affected areas and specific sectors. After a number of years of rate reductions, we are starting to see price corrections, most acutely in affected lines such as large property insurance and catastrophe reinsurance, which we expect to spread to non-affected lines. Although these are huge insured events, sadly, they also highlight the lack of cover in places.”


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Hiscox announces Hurricane Harvey estimate
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