Katrina mainly results in commercial lines claims

Commercial insurance claims account for the majority of all New Orleans insurance claims related to Hurricane Katrina, according to Moody’s Investors Service analysts.The property/casualty industry at large will be greatly impacted by loses incurred as a result of the recent hurricane according to Moody’s analyst Jeff Berg. In a report presented at the annual Rendes-Vous deSeptembre reinsurance gathering in Monte Carlo, Moody’s stated that it is uncertain if flood-related losses were a result of the by windstorm and this will subsequently lead to disputes between insurers and insureds. These disputes will be further compounded for reinsurers. If the windstorm caused the flooding many insurance policies will be responsible for the flood-damage claims. Flooding is however, not covered by most personal lines, whereas it is covered by commercial policies. Moody’s group managing director in New York Ted Collins says that primary insurers anticipate that a substantial portion of this loss will be ceded to reinsurers. In general, Katrina will trigger many different types of reinsurance policies and, Berg adds that on more positive not, reinsurers should also be able to collect on catastrophe retrocessional programs.