Secondary perils drive global insured cat losses in H1

Global insured property losses from disasters totaled $31 billion in the first half of 2020, up 34.8% from $23 billion in the first half of 2019, Swiss Re Ltd. said in a report Tuesday.

Natural catastrophes accounted for $28 billion of the insured losses, with most losses coming from secondary perils events, such as thunderstorms in North America, which played a “significant role,” Swiss Re said.

Severe convective storms including thunderstorms with tornadoes, floods and hail in North America caused insured losses of more than $21 billion, the most since the first half of 2011, Swiss Re said.  In June, Calgary, Canada suffered losses of $1 billion from hail damage, the costliest hailstorm event ever in Canada.

Global insured losses from natural catastrophes rose 47.4% to $28 billion in the first half of 2020 from $19 billion the year before. Insured losses from man-made disasters fell 25% to $3 billion from $4 billion.

Global economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in the first half of 2020 totaled $75 billion, according to Swiss Re Institute's preliminary estimates, up 31.6% from $57 billion in the first half of 2019.

Some 40% of the economic losses, $31 billion, were covered by insurance, Swiss Re said.

Through the past 10 years, first-half insured claims averaged $36 billion annually. Catastrophe loss estimates are for property damage, and exclude COVID-19 related claims, Swiss Re said.

Of the $75 billion in total global economic losses in the first half of 2020, natural catastrophes accounted for $72 billion, up 38.5% from $52 billion in the first half of 2019. The other $3 billion of losses were caused by man-made disasters, down from $5 billion for the first half of 2019.