Australia: Overall economic losses from floods could reach between US$10 bln and US$20 bln
Australia's recent flooding catastrophe has become the country's costliest natural disaster in history with A$5.6 billion (US$5.67 billion) in economic damages. The total cost of repairing and rebuilding could potentially push the overall economic losses between A$10 billion and A$20 billion, according to Aon Benfield's latest Monthly Cat Recap report.
The Queensland government failed to take out disaster insurance
reports The Australian. It is the only major state not to have insured public assets with a comprehensive disaster cover obtained on the international reinsurance market.
Asia Insurance Review
5th February 2011
Australia: Non-life insurers present wishlist for flood action
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), which represents general insurers Down Under, has released a 10-point plan to tackle future disasters, with establishing a standard definition of flood as the top priority, even as Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard proposed a one-off flood levy to help pay for the cost of flood
reconstruction.
Asia Insurance Review
31st January 2011
Australia: Insurers argue that rebuilding levy will make insurance more expensive
Insurers in Australia are up in arms against a government proposal to introduce a levy nationwide to help fund the cost of rebuilding after natural disasters, arguing that such a levy will push up premiums, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. The federal government is considering the idea to pay for the clean-up of catastrophic events like Queensland's floods.
Asia Insurance Review
27th January 2011
Australia: Obstacles hamper reaching agreement on a common definition of flood
Despite public calls for a standard definition of floods in insurance contracts amidst the current flood devastation in Australia, adopting a common definition would not resolve problems for insurers or consumers, reports the Herald Sun quotingMr Chris Groth, Research Manager of financial research and ratings company Canstar Cannex.
Asia Insurance Review
26th January2011
Australia: Flood claims exceed US$1 bln
Insurers in Australia have received 31,300 claims for about A$1.2 billion (US$1.19 billion) as a result of the devastating flooding in the country caused by driving rain and overflowing rivers, reports Bloomberg. According to Mr Rob Whelan, the Chief Executive Officer of the Insurance Council of Australia, who provided the figures, about three-quarters of the claims, which do not include industrial and mining damage, are for property and 24% are for motor vehicles.
Asia Insurance Review
25th January 2011
Australia: Global reinsurer airs position on payouts for flood victims
Munich Re, the world's biggest reinsurer, has said that people who do not have flood coverage cannot be expected to be compensated for losses arising from the devastating floods which have hit Queensland and Victoria, reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Asia Insurance Review
21st January 2011
Australia: Premiums to rise in wake of flood catastrophe
Some of the world's biggest reinsurers are expected to review their risk assessment of Australia in the wake of the massive floods sweeping through large swathes of the country, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Demands by reinsurers for an additional risk premium could hit home owners or businesses hard, because reinsurance is one of the mainfactors in how domestic insurers price policies.
Asia Insurance Review 20th Jan 2011
Australia: Govt considering flood levy to fund rebuilding
The Australian government is considering a flood levy to be paid by taxpayers to help fund large-scale flood rebuilding while preserving the Budget's return to surplus in 2012-2013, reports The Australian newspaper. Any levy would likely take the form of an addition to the 1.5% Medicare levy, which raises A$10 billion (US$9.9 billion) a year.
Asia Insurance Review 19th Jan 2011
Australia: Floods to cost global insurance industry US$6 bln
The Queensland floods may cost insurers and reinsurers worldwide as much as US$6 billion in what might be Australia's costliest disaster in history. Insured losses from last week's deluge in and around the capital Brisbane may be as high as US$4 billion, while damage from floods further north late last year may cost US$2 billion, reports Bloomberg citing Dr Milan Simic, Managing Director of catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide
Asia Insurance Review 17/1/2011
Australia: Major insurers buffered from floods by catastrophe XL reinsurance
Despite the negative impact of the massive flooding in Australia on local insurers' profits, the rating agency, Moody's, has said that this is not a material credit event because the insurers have established provisions for catastrophic events and maintained extensive reinsurance programmes. Furthermore, flood coverage mostly relates to personal lines while high risk and high value exposures are excluded or have limited coverage under commercial policies. Separately, Fitch Ratings says that catastrophe reinsurance offers reasonable protection to Australia's major non-life insurers against floods in Queensland and Northern New South Wales.
Asia Insurance Review 13 Jan 2011
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