The latest data from the General Insurance Association of Japan (GIAJ) reveals that insurance claims paid for July rains and floods in the country has now approached $1.5 billion (JPY 165.7 billion), while insurance claims paid following the Osaka prefecture area earthquake now total almost $770 million (JPY 86.6bn).
In recent months, Japan has been struck with a number of catastrophe and severe weather events, with the July rain and flooding and the Osaka earthquake being among the most damaging.
According to the GIAJ, and as at September 12th, 2018, the value of claims paid following the rains and floods is increasing, and has now surpassed $1.47 billion (JLY 165.7 billion).
This is from a total 62,481 accepted claims, a figure that is expected to increase in the coming weeks and months.
Broken down, the GIAJ states that automobile insurance claims now total roughly $241.7 million, fire insurance, which includes residential and commercial property, totals roughly $1.155 billion, and miscellaneous insurance, including accident cover, has reached approximately $75.3 million.
It’s also likely that these figures are from domestic Japanese insurers, meaning they don’t include all international market players operating in Japan.
Regarding the shallow magnitude 5.3 earthquake that struck the Osaka prefecture area of Japan in June, 2018, the GIAJ states that insurance claims paid has now reached almost $770 million, as of September 10th, 2018.
According to the GIAJ, this figure is based on 114,632 claims payments made, out of 152,493 claims inquiries received.
Despite the Osaka quake set to become the third costliest earthquake event in Japan for the insurance and reinsurance industry, it is unlikely to result in a significant share of losses for the reinsurance market.
While the current level of claims suggests that impact to reinsurance will be fairly limited, combined with the July rain and flooding and other events that have impacted the country recently, any aggregate covers in place could start to look at-risk, as the number of claims from multiple events mounts up.
Other recent events to strike the country include Typhoon Jebi, which RMS has said will drive insured losses in Japan as high as $5.5 billion, and the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake, which is expected to drive insurance industry losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
