Global insurer and reinsurer Chubb has announced net catastrophe losses of an estimated $430 million pre-tax ($353 million after-tax) for the fourth-quarter of 2019, net of reinsurance.
Chubb states that the losses are primarily a result of severe, global weather-related events, including tornadoes in Texas, the California wildfires, and also typhoon Hagibis in Japan. At the same time, civil unrest in Hong Kong and Chile also contributed to the firm’s Q4 losses.
The re/insurer’s losses are net of reinsurance, and includes reinstatement premiums and comprise losses generated from Chubb’s commercial and personal P&C insurance businesses, as well as its global reinsurance operations.
Chubb has also announced that it expects to fall to an underwriting loss of $23 million pre-tax ($18 million after-tax) in its North America Agricultural Insurance unit for the fourth-quarter of 2019, which is mostly driven by crop yield shortfalls as a result of poor growing conditions.
The re/insurer notes that in Q3 2019, it recognised charges related to preventative planting claims as a result of the impact of wet weather conditions. Within its Agriculture unit, Chubb’s combined ratios for the fourth-quarter and full-year 2019 are expected to be 105.4% and 95.1%, respectively.
Chubb is one of the first re/insurers to reveal its expected Q4 cat loss total, and the announcement comes after reinsurers Munich Re and Swiss Re reported global re/insured nat cat losses of $52 billion and $56 billion, respectively, for full-year 2019.
