A combination of smaller and medium-sized events resulted in total insured catastrophe losses of approximately $53 billion in 2019, according to insurance and reinsurance broker Willis Towers Watson (WTW).
At $53 billion, insurance industry losses from catastrophe events during 2019 come in roughly 18% lower than the annual average since 2011, says WTW.
The year was dominated by smaller and medium-sized events and unlike more recent years, no very large natural catastrophe event occurred in the year.
The largest insured catastrophe loss bill of the year was seen in the U.S., with losses in the region accounting for roughly 46% of the total. Asia Pacific followed closely, with insured losses here accounting for around 38% of the total.
Tropical cyclones Faxai and Hagibis, which both occurred in Japan, were the largest two single events in the year, resulting in insured losses of circa $7 billion and $8 billion, respectively, notes WTW.
In the U.S., hurricane Dorian and a severe thunderstorm which hit parts of the High and Central Plains and eastern U.S., were among the largest catastrophe events of the year. Elsewhere, notes the re/insurance broker, no billion-dollar losses occurred.
WTW adds that at year-end 2019 the Australian wildfires had led to insured losses of roughly $900 million, with this figure now exceeding the $1 billion mark as additional claims filtered through.
Karl Jones, Head of Catastrophe Analytics at Willis Re International, commented: “Despite this being a lower than average year compared to the previous decade, we have still seen some extreme and unusual events, including back-to-back typhoon losses in Japan, and the large number and scale of bushfires in Australia.”
Vaughn Jensen, Executive Vice President (EVP) and Head of North America Catastrophe Analytics at Willis Re, added: “The year will come as a relative relief to reinsurers, following the extremely costly events of 2017 and 2018. However, the year did bring the strongest-ever landfalling hurricane in the Atlantic, Hurricane Dorian.”
WTW is the latest to report its insured nat cat loss total for the year, and the broker’s figure comes in slightly higher than the $52 billion reported by reinsurer Munich Re. However, it is lower than the $56 billion figure noted by Swiss Re, and significantly down on the $71 billion posted by re/insurance broker Aon.
