Q4 2018 Claims burden at USD1bn: Swiss Re

Swiss Re estimates its preliminary claims burden from recent natural catastrophes in the fourth quarter of 2018 at approximately USD1.0 billion, mainly affecting Reinsurance, and net of retrocession and before tax.

Swiss Re anticipates claims from the Camp and Woolsey fires in California to be USD375 million, USD150 million from Hurricane Michael, USD32 million-hike for Typhoons Jebi net of retrocession and before tax. The total number of claims for natural catastrophes also includes smaller events, such as the Sydney hailstorm on 20 December 2018. In addition, multiple large man-made disasters are expected to generate approximately USD0.3 billion in claims for the fourth quarter. Swiss Re expects a combined claims burden from natural catastrophes and large man-made disasters of USD2.9 billion for the full year 2018. For the whole industry in 2018, Swiss Re estimates global insured losses of USD81 billion.

The last quarter of 2018 was also impacted by several large man-made disasters, including, among others, a major satellite loss, a large industrial fire in Germany and a further increase in the estimated claims of the Ituango dam flooding, causing expected combined claims of USD0.3 billion. This claims burden is expected to be roughly equally distributed between the Corporate Solutions and Reinsurance Business Units.

“The last quarter of 2018 was severely impacted by natural catastrophes. In the US, Hurricane Michael was the strongest storm to hit Florida since Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and in California, wildfires caused great damage as they also spread to urban areas”, says Edouard Schmid, Swiss Re’s Group Chief Underwriting Officer. “We are working closely with our clients to ensure affected people and communities are supported and able to get back on their feet as soon as possible.”