Blue Capital Reinsurance Holdings Ltd. has revealed that its third quarter 2018 results will be impacted by approximately $10.2 million of natural catastrophe losses, the majority of which are due to loss creep from Hurricane Irma.
The loss estimate, which is net of reinsurance and reinstatement premiums, includes a $6.1 million increase in estimated losses related to Hurricane Irma, which made landfall in Florida in September 2017.
The remaining $4.1 million of Q3 2018 losses were largely driven by the impact of Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Jebi, Blue Capital said.
The reinsurer added that its actual losses may ultimately differ materially from estimated losses due to the nature of the risk assumed, the complexity of the assessment of the damages, and the limited number of reported claims to date.
The $10.2 million of Q3 nat cat losses are significantly lower than Blue Capital’s losses for the same period in 2017, when it posted initial estimates of $57.5 million, which were largely driven by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, as well as the earthquakes in Southern and Central Mexico.
The level of loss creep from Hurricane Irma has proved to be a major story for the re/insurance industry as issues surrounding assignment of benefits (AOB) and reopened claims have continued to drive higher costs.
In August, it was reported that the combined loss creep from Irma had exceeded $1 billion for Floridian insurance companies.
