Evan Greenberg, the Chief Executive Officer of global insurer Chubb, expects coronavirus to inflict upwards of $100 billion in losses for the industry.
Speaking to the New York Times, Greenberg said claims will come from all sides and be exacerbated by the accumulation of investment losses.
However, Greenberg noted that business interruption claims generally require policyholders to have direct physical damage and are not written to include pandemic risk.
“If you had insurance to cover the pandemic, you’d be underwriting the whole US economy.” Greenberg said.
“It’s impossible. With a finite balance sheet, you’d be taking on an infinite risk.”
Chubb is, however, paying some business interruption claims related to the pandemic, and will be paying many more over the next weeks and months, Greenberg added.
As a result, Greenberg said the payouts would be “quite visible” in the company’s next quarterly results.
