Germany-based financial services company, the Wüstenrot & Württembergische Group (W&W), has said that it expects storm events and subsequent flooding in mid-July to drive gross expenses of up to €400 million.
Flooding in Germany, photo from Roberto Pfeil – AFP
The company’s loss estimate for the impacts of storm Bernd in Europe, which arrived in Central Europe in July, is limited by its mid-double-digit million euro reinsurance programme.
Over July 12th – 18th, torrential rainfall caused by a slow-moving area of low pressure resulted in catastrophic flooding across parts of Western and Central Europe.
Thousands of properties were inundated. Beyond Germany and Belgium, widespread flood- and storm-related damage was also noted in Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, the UK, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.
To date, W&W has received approximately 7,500 claims from its customers in the affected regions. The firm is also directly affected by these events as damage has been suffered by individual general agencies, Wüstenrot offices, and service centres in the areas.
“The overall picture currently shows a high degree of destruction in the retail and commercial portfolio, mainly property damage to buildings and their contents and furnishings as well as damage to motor vehicles. At this time, it is not yet possible to fully quantify the effects of the foregoing events, since we expect additional claims to be filed and damage appraisals are still ongoing.
“However, we anticipate that these events will have a material impact on the net assets, financial position and financial performance of the W&W Group,” explains the company.
For the year as a whole, W&W Group foresees claims coming in considerably higher than in the prior year, driven by the severe flooding in July and the expected gross cost of up to €400 million.
In August, insurance giant Allianz warned of gross losses of approximately €900 million from the impacts of storm Bernd in Europe, as Generali said that the event triggered its reinsurance protection.
Global re/insurers Hannover Re, Swiss Re, and AXA have also commented on the impacts of the storm.
In late July, the German Insurance Association (GDV) updated its insurance and reinsurance industry loss estimate for the flooding in the country to between €4.5 billion to €5.5 billion.
According to re/insurance broker Aon, the flooding event is expected to drive economic losses of more than $10 billion.
