Help

BI’s Article search uses Boolean search capabilities. If you are not familiar with these principles, here are some quick tips.

To search specifically for more than one word, put the search term in quotation marks. For example, “workers compensation”. This will limit your search to that combination of words.

To search for a combination of terms, use quotations and the & symbol. For example, “hurricane” & “loss”.

Login Register Subscribe

Catastrophes cost U.S. property/casualty industry $38.6B in nine months: Best

Reprints

Catastrophes cost the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry an estimated $38.6 billion in losses during the first nine months of the year, A.M. Best Co. Inc. said Monday.

That is an increase of 140% from the amount of catastrophe losses suffered by U.S. insurers during the same period in 2010, according to the Oldwick, N.J.-based rating agency. This year’s nine-month estimated total is nearly double the $19.6 billion in catastrophe losses sustained by U.S. insurers during all of last year.

Best said the “vast majority” of the losses were associated with tornadoes and hailstorms that struck the Midwest and Southeast during the spring, as well as Hurricane Irene in September and blizzards in the Midwest.

Non-U.S. losses

In addition, some U.S. insurers suffered losses in catastrophes outside the United States, including the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

In an analysis, Best said that while the natural catastrophes will have a material impact on the property/casualty insurance industry from an earnings perspective, Best “believes the overall industry’s capital will effectively absorb these catastrophe-related losses.”