QBE Insurance Group Ltd
(ASX:QBE) has confirmed that its estimated large risk and catastrophe claims for the year to date are $470 million.
This compares with an estimated net $430 million for the same period in 2009.
The update from QBE is in response to a number of questions from investors, analysts and the media regarding the company’s exposure to recent catastrophes.
At its recent annual general meeting, the insurer advised that its 2010 business plans included an allowance of $1.28 billion for large risk and catastrophe claims, including reinsurance protections of $180 million for claims above $1.1 billion.
QBE says catastrophe claims for the 2010 year to date include the Haiti earthquake, European windstorm, Chile earthquake, Melbourne hail storm, Queensland cyclone Ului, Perth hail storm, Transocean oil rig loss, Iceland volcano travel claims, Western Australia earthquake and US tornadoes.
CEO Frank O’Halloran says despite the unusual frequency of catastrophes this year, QBE still has a significant allowance of around $810 million for the remainder of 2010.
To put this in perspective, Mr O’Halloran says estimated large risk and catastrophe claims for the last eight months of 2009 amounted to $485 million.
For the 2009 calendar year QBE reported a profit of $1.97 billion.
