Kumamoto earthquake payouts surge 46pc

Insurance payouts from both Japanese domestic and foreign non-life companies for damage to dwellings after the Kumamoto region of Kyushu, Japan earthquakes in April have risen by 46 percent in a week to USD1.65 billion.

The USD1.65 billion of insurance claims paid reflects the settlement and claims payment of 59 percent of the inquiries raised with insurers so far, according to the General Insurance Association of Japan (GIAJ), suggesting that the total has further to rise, raising the burden for insurance firms and ultimately for reinsurance companies and any exposed ILS funds or ILS investors.

The GIAJ now reports that 188,319 claims inquiries have been. Of those 122,849 are now cases that have been settled and 111,463 have resulted in an insurance claim.

However with just 59 percent of the raised claims inquiries paid, the figure is sure to rise with USD2 billion clearly within sight.

And this is just for damage to dwellings, so not including damage to commercial or industrial property, infrastructure related losses, agricultural industry damage, or indeed business interruption, which suggests that providers of insurance and reinsurance capital could see the eventual total industry loss rise further.