Underwriter’s Loss From Hurricanes Harvey And Irma Greater Than Expected

Lloyd’s of London underwriter Hiscox Ltd estimated on Monday that it would face net claims totalling about $225M from Harvey and Irma, as insurers and reinsurers count the cost of the hurricanes. The company said that despite continuing uncertainty around the losses from Harvey and Irma, the estimates were within its modelled range of claims for events of this nature and that it still had “depth of cover” in its reinsurance business. Hiscox had previously estimated that it would see net claims of about $150m from Hurricane Harvey. Harvey lashed Texas causing flooding that put it on the scale of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, ravaged several islands in the northern Caribbean, before moving into Florida’s Gulf Coast.