Eight Catastrophic Events Surpassed USD1 Billion in Insured Losses
New York, December 21, 2010 – The earthquakes that devastated parts of Chile and New Zealand were the largest source of losses in 2010, costing the re/insurance industry USD8 billion and USD4 billion respectively, according to a new report by Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, the leading global risk and reinsurance specialist and a member of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC).
Of the eight catastrophes that individually caused insured losses of more than USD1 billion, five were related to severe weather and storms in the United States, Australia and Europe, for a total loss of USD7.9 billion. The only man-made event to incur losses in excess of USD1 billion in 2010 was the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, with the expectation that BP and its captive will cover most of the expenses, capping insured losses at approximately USD3.5 billion.
A description of the world’s most significant catastrophic events of 2010 can be found in the 2010 Catastrophe Update, which will be serialized this week at www.gccapitalideas.com.
KEY FINDINGS
QUOTES
David Flandro, Head of Global Business Intelligence, Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC
“Large losses in the first half of the year, coupled with low interest rates and depressed valuations, created a challenging environment for carriers in 2010. Moreover, the active nature of this year’s hurricane season reinforces the fact that catastrophe risk remains elevated as the reinsurance sector prepares for 2011 renewals.”
About Guy Carpenter
Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC is the world’s leading risk and reinsurance specialist and a member of Marsh & McLennan Companies. With over 50 offices worldwide, Guy Carpenter creates and executes reinsurance solutions and delivers capital market solutions* for clients across the globe. The firm’s full breadth of services includes line of business expertise in Agriculture; Aviation; Casualty Clash; Construction and Engineering; Excess and Umbrella; Life, Accident and Health; Marine and Energy; Medical Professional Liability; Political Risk and Trade Credit; Professional Liability; Property; Retrocessional Reinsurance; Surety; Terrorism and Workers Compensation. GCFac� is Guy Carpenter’s dedicated global facultative reinsurance unit that provides placement strategies, timely market access and centralized management of facultative reinsurance solutions. In addition, GC Analytics™ utilizes industry-leading quantitative skills and modeling tools that optimize the reinsurance decision-making process and help make the firm’s clients more successful. Guy Carpenter’s website address is www.guycarp.com.
Guy Carpenter’s intellectual capital website, www.GCCapitalIdeas.com, leverages blog technology, including Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds and searchable category tags, to deliver Guy Carpenter’s latest research as soon as it is posted. In addition, articles can be delivered directly to BlackBerrys and other handheld devices.