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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
HAMILTON, Bermuda—Three Bermuda-based insurers and reinsurers have estimated their quarterly catastrophe losses, but say it is too early to assess the impact of last week’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
For the first quarter of 2011, Lancashire Holdings Ltd. said Tuesday that it expects pretax net losses of $45 million to $55 million from the earthquake in New Zealand, flooding in Australia, and energy loss in the U.K. region of the North Sea and terrorism losses arising from political unrest in Egypt.
Lancashire said it is monitoring its potential underwriting exposures in Japan and the Pacific region, but said in a statement that it is too soon to say how the Japan disaster will affect first-quarter results, market pricing or reinstatement premiums.
On Monday, Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. said its pretax loss from the New Zealand quake would be about $75 million, based on an estimated industrywide loss of $12 billion.
Montpelier said its net losses from the January flooding in Australia likely would be as high as $15 million.
Montpelier said it has begun estimating losses arising from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, but also said it is too early to provide a specific amount.
Arch Capital Group Ltd. said Monday that its first-quarter results would have losses of $35 million to $70 million from the New Zealand quake.
While saying it is too soon to estimate Japan losses, Arch said its modeled exposures to an earthquake in Japan produced probable net pretax losses of about $60 million for a 1-in-100-year event and about $100 million for a 1-in-250-year event.
Those modeled estimates are only for property lines of business, Arch noted in a statement, and do not take into account the effects of a tsunami or the impact that an earthquake might have outside of Japan.
Insured losses from last week’s earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan are unlikely to be large enough to turn the reinsurance market, Fitch Ratings Ltd. said Monday.