Specialist and Lloyd’s focused re/insurer Beazley plc has added $25 million to the top-end of its estimated range of third-quarter natural catastrophe losses, which it now expects to be between $200 million and $300 million.
The increased estimate adds in the California wildfire losses to an already estimated $175 million to $275 million of losses from the impacts of major hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, as well as the series of earthquakes in Mexico.
The estimate for up to $300 million of losses is after reinsurance, and Beazley now sees these losses having around a $175 million impact on its 2017 profit before tax.
Andrew Horton, Chief Executive Officer, commented on the losses, “The third quarter of 2017 was defined by the high frequency and severity of natural catastrophes. Beazley is in the catastrophe insurance business and paying natural catastrophe claims is part of what we do. Our focus is currently on providing the support and resources necessary to help our policyholders recover as quickly as possible.
“These events will naturally affect our full year results but our diverse underwriting portfolio continues to serve us well. We also expect to see rate increases across some lines of business in the coming months.”
As a result of the losses in Q3, Beazley expects that its full-year 2017 combined ratio will be around 100%.
It’s safe to assume that other Lloyd’s players with catastrophe exposures will be reporting increased losses, to include the California wildfires and this will reduce the chances of these companies making a full-year profit.
