Reinsurance News
Losses
News on catastrophe and man-made losses that impact or could impact the reinsurance industry and reinsurers around the globe.
Autonomous lifts LA fire insured loss estimate to $25bn, warns of potential FAIR Plan insolvency
14th January 2025
Analysts at Autonomous have increased their insured loss estimate for the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires by 92% to $25 billion, forecasting a significant loss of up to $8 billion for California's FAIR Plan. As the fires continue to burn and affect over 40,000 acres, with more than 12,000 structures reported to ... Read the full article
Re/insurance industry well capitalized to absorb LA wildfire losses: KBRA
13th January 2025
While the Los Angeles wildfires are anticipated to be a major catastrophe event for the insurance industry, a new report from KBRA has highlighted that the sector is generally well capitalized to absorb the losses, although some individual carriers may be more heavily impacted than others. With industry losses from ... Read the full article
Canada’s total catastrophe insured losses reach record $8.5bn in 2024: CatIQ
13th January 2025
Total insured losses from catastrophic events across Canada reached CAN $8.5 billion in 2024, marking the country's largest loss year on record, according to CatIQ, Canada’s provider of insured loss and exposure indices. This insured loss figure significantly surpassed the previous record of CAN $6.2 billion set in 2016. The total number ... Read the full article
KBW estimates of insurers’ net LA wildfire losses points to reinsurance recoveries
13th January 2025
Forecasting that the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires will drive insurance and reinsurance industry losses of $20 billion, analysts at KBW have estimated net losses from the fires for numerous insurance carriers, based on individual firms' 2023 market share of exposed lines of business, suggesting reinsurance recoveries for some under their ... Read the full article
Insured LA wildfire losses ‘to notably’ exceed $10bn: Gallagher Re
13th January 2025
Steve Bowen, Chief Science Officer at reinsurance broker Gallagher Re, states that the wildfires in Los Angeles County, particularly the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire, are projected to become some of the most expensive in history, with total aggregated insured losses expected "to notably" exceed the $10 billion mark. The extent ... Read the full article
Analysts expect LA fires to be treated as single event as insured loss estimate rises to $25bn
13th January 2025
Analysts at Evercore ISI have estimated that insurance industry losses from the Los Angeles wildfires will be in the $20 billion to $25 billion range, and also expect the fires to be treated as one event which could help primary carriers reach their reinsurance coverage. The fires continued to burn and ... Read the full article
LA wildfires destroy over 10k structures, insured loss seen at ~$20bn
10th January 2025
The Los Angeles County wildfires are still burning and have now destroyed more than 10,000 structures, according to the Cal Fire authority, with insurance industry loss estimates still ranging from $10 billion to $20 billion, or higher if the fires continue to spread. Five fires continue to burn across LA. The ... Read the full article
Mercury expects LA wildfire losses to exceed reinsurance retention limit
10th January 2025
Mercury General Corporation has provided a preliminary assessment of the recent wildfires in Southern California, expecting losses to exceed its reinsurance retention level of $150 million. Since January 7, 2025, extreme wind-driven wildfires have caused widespread destruction across Southern California. The fires are ongoing, and it will take time before Mercury ... Read the full article
California wildfire unpredictability may drive insurers to reconsider risk appetite: AM Best
10th January 2025
The longer-term impact on California's insurance market from the Los Angeles County wildfires may be substantial, as insurers will further re-examine their appetites for wildfire risk as it has become highly unpredictable concerning location, intensity and seasonality, according to a new report from AM Best. The Cal Fire Authority has noted ... Read the full article
California wildfires unlikely to materially affect reinsurers’ 2025 earnings: Berenberg
10th January 2025
Analysts at Berenberg believe the California wildfires are unlikely to result in a material impact on 2025 earnings for the reinsurers it covers. In a recent report, Berenberg highlighted three key reasons why the impact of the current wildfires on re/insurers is expected to be less severe than the 2018 Camp ... Read the full article
Impact of LA wildfires expected to be manageable for global reinsurers: S&P
10th January 2025
S&P has noted that while significant losses from the wildfires engulfing Los Angeles County in the first two weeks of 2025 could rapidly deplete the catastrophe budgets of U.S. primary insurers, the impact will be manageable for global reinsurers, with no major impact on earnings. S&P said in a new report, ... Read the full article
LA wildfire insured losses could exceed $20bn: J.P. Morgan
9th January 2025
The destructive wildfires engulfing Los Angeles continue to burn and with containment efforts currently yielding little success, analysts at J.P. Morgan have doubled their preliminary insured loss estimate for the event to $20 billion or more, which would make it the costliest insured wildfire loss event in California's history. As analysts ... Read the full article
2024 insured nat cat loss bill pegged at $140bn: Munich Re
9th January 2025
According to reinsurance giant Munich Re, natural disasters resulted in an industry loss of $140 billion in 2024, up from 2023's $106 billion, with insured losses notably higher than the inflation-adjusted averages of the past 10 and 30 years. The 2024 insured losses were the third most expensive year since 1980, ... Read the full article
Analysts peg insured LA wildfire losses at up to $13bn, economic loss put at more than $52bn
9th January 2025
As wildfires continue to grow across Los Angeles County and firefighters struggle to contain the flames, equity analysts have started to comment on potential insurance industry losses, forecasting losses of between $6 billion and $13 billion, while AccuWeather has released a preliminary total economic loss of up to $57 billion. The ... Read the full article
Final industry loss estimate for Australia Christmas storms raised to AU $1.60bn: PERILS
20th December 2024
Zurich-based catastrophe insurance data provider PERILS has released its fourth and final insurance industry loss estimate for the Australia Christmas storms which impacted the the states of Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland during the period of 23 - 29 December 2023, lifting the figure to AU $1.606 billion. PERILS ... Read the full article
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