Bell fire losses minimal

The insurance industry got off lightly from the July 16 fire at a downtown Toronto Bell Canada switching station in which phone service was cut off for 113,000 downtown homes and offices for nearly five hours.

Initial estimates had the disruption caused at being over $1 billion in economic losses. This, however, was mainly attributed to lost trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and derivatives market. Despite a disruption to ATMs as well as restaurant and retail billing mechanisms, commercial insurers report that they have not seen a heavy influx of business disruption claims arising from the incident. Anne Cochrane, head of communications at Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Company of Canada, says there has not been any significant claims arising from the event. “Either there have not been many losses, or the losses have barely exceeded the deductible and has not merited triggering coverage,” she adds. Other top commercial underwriters report similar results. Zurich Canada vice president of communications Lyn Whitham says no claims have been submitted as yet.