Amlin: Flood Costs To Top $50M
Lloyd’s re/insurer Amlin — which operates a major Bermuda subsidiary — said today [Feb. 7] it expects property and casualty reinsurance claims for the Thai floods to be in the range of $50 million to $70 million, net of reinsurance recoveries.
The scale of the insured damage arising from the flooding in Thailand remains uncertain, but current insured loss estimates put the damage somewhere between $8 billion and $20 billion.
In a trading statement Amlin said it was working closely with brokers with a view to determining its anticipated claims from the Thai floods. However, limited claims information has been provided to date, it said.
“Amlin’s exposures to the Thai floods lie mainly in its international property reinsurance account, with only limited catastrophe account involvement. There is further exposure within the insurance and other reinsurance accounts however claims arising from these accounts are expected to be largely covered within normal loss development,” the firm added.
The estimates are based on a review of client exposures in the region rather than individual loss advices. While the quality and scope of information remains limited, claims will be reserved towards the top end of the range.
The grounding of the cruise ship “Costa Concordia” has led to market claim estimates of $500 million to $1 billion for the cost of damage to the vessel and further losses from passenger liability claims, removal of wreck and potential environmental claims. Amlin’s worst case position on such estimates would be less than £10m, net of reinsurance recoveries, the firm said.
Amlin also reflected on 1 January renewals for its key classes.
The firm has written total income to date of £746.4 million, net of brokerage, a 19.2% increase on the prior year. Overall renewal rates for the Group have increased by 4.0% it said.
Amlin’s international catastrophe accounts, written within the London reinsurance business and Amlin Bermuda, experienced average rate increases of 15.9 percent.
The uplift in reinsurance rates was attributed to unprecedented catastrophe loss activity in 2011.
Amlin said its income levels have also been boosted by Amlin Re Europe, which at the start of its second full year of trading, has increased its gross written premium, net of brokerage, to £125 million.
