Claims

Manulife’s Katrina losses at US$165 million

Canadian-based Manulife Financial Corporation [TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC; SEHK: 0945] estimates its after-tax losses related to damages left by Hurricane Katrina will be US$165 million.Manulife provides property catastrophe coverage to a number of reinsurers, the company said in a statement. “Reinsurers generally begin to pay limited benefits when insured losses from a catastrophic event exceed US$20 billion.”The […]

By Canadian Underwriter | September 20, 2005

1 min read

Claims

Hurricane Rita heads towards Louisiana, Texas

Already flooded and battered by Hurricane Katrina, a Category 4 hurricane, Louisiana now faces the possibility of being hit by Hurricane Rita sometime around Sept. 24.Hurricane Rita is now a Category 1 hurricane in the Bahamas, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 75 mph. Rita is anticipated to hit the southernmost tip of Florida and […]

By Canadian Underwriter | September 20, 2005

2 min read

Claims

Louisiana to restrict P&C policy cancellations

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco is expected to sign an emergency order that would severely restrict the ability of property/casualty and health insurers to cancel a policy within the seven-parish region that was hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina, A.M. Best reports.Bobby Clark, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Insurance, reportedly said the insurance commissioner is […]

By Canadian Underwriter | September 20, 2005

2 min read

Claims

Fitch reviews adequacy of computer-modeling

Fitch Ratings in Chicago says it is reviewing “the reliability of catastrophe modeling” to support its analysis of the capital adequacy of insurers.Fitch said it presumes probabilistic vendor models used throughout the insurance industry to assess catastrophe exposures represent current, “state-of-the-art” technology. But “we are increasingly concerned that there are many sources of loss in […]

By Canadian Underwriter | September 19, 2005

2 min read

Reinsurers update Katrina losses

Risk Management Solutions, which does catastrophe modeling, is reporting a more detailed breakdown of overall industry losses in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a Category 4 hurricane that all but decimated New Orleans in late August.RMS is projecting industry-wide losses of between US$40 billion and $60 billion as a result of Katrina. The flooding of […]

1 min read

Ophelia leaves less than $800 million in damages

The remnants of tropical storm Ophelia have tracked eastward, away from Newfoundland, and the Canadian Hurricane Centre of Environment Canada has lifted all warnings for inland areas of Newfoundland.Once a Category 1 storm that swept through Northern Carolina last week, Ophelia has now been downgraded by the Canadian Hurricane Centre to a “post-tropical storm,” with […]

2 min read

Pethealth Inc. aids PETCO P.A.L.S. members

Pethealth Inc. (TSX VENTURE:PTZ), will be suspending insurance premium payments through January 1, 2006 for all PETCO P.A.L.S. members enrolled in a PetCare insurance plan and who live in Louisiana, Mississippi, or Alabama. “With a catastrophe of this magnitude we wanted to lessen the financial burden on P.A.L.S. members,” Mark Warren, president and CEO of […]

1 min read

Analysts debate post-Katrina rate hikes

U.S. industry analysts are predicting insurance premium rate increases along the U.S. Gulf States and along the eastern seaboard in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina although the rates are not expected to rise in the immediate future.”The claims in Louisiana are not going to impact premiums in Illinois, New York or New Jersey,” Dick Luedke, […]

2 min read

Mississippi AG sues insurance industry

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has filed a complaint and a motion for a temporary restraining order against the insurance industry, seeking to declare void and unenforceable certain provisions contained in property casualty insurance policies issued to Mississippi Gulf Coast residents excluding coverage from damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.In a press release, Hood is quoted […]

2 min read

Lloyd’s rating stable, despite Katrina losses

Fitch Ratings, the international rating agency, believes the US$2.55 billion provisional estimate of net losses arising from Hurricane Katrina recently announced by Lloyd’s is within current rating expectations. As a result, “there is no immediate impact on Lloyd’s ratings,” Fitch says in a statement.Although Lloyd’s specific syndicates did not model Hurricane Katrina’s flood-related losses, Fitch […]

2 min read