Oct 2012 Financial News

Insurers expect minor losses

Oct 31, 2012

The claims will take time to come in, but already insurers say they are not expecting any significant loss from Hurricane Sandy.

"The feedback so far does not suggest any serious or significant problems on insured properties," said Orville Johnson, general manager of the Insurance Association of Jamaica.

Claims filed up to Tuesday numbered less than 40 across three of the largest general-insurance companies polled.

Meantime, Carib RM, the facility manager for sovereign insurer Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, says that while estimates of the full economic impact are not yet available, "the insurance sector anticipates losses to be in the low tens of millions of US dollars."

Peter Levy, general manager of British Caribbean Insurance Company, said his company has received 20 — five from residential property owners and 15 for commercial properties.

"We expect this to increase over the next few days, but it is hard to tell. However, we don't see it as a significant event to represent a catastrophe," Levy said.

Mark Thompson of Advantage General Insurance Company said claims have been minimal, numbering fewer than 10.

"We are still waiting and assessing the impact to get a better sense of the damage, but claim levels are low so far," said Thompson.

"Advantage General is predominantly motor, so exposure will be limited on the property, but I have not heard of any serious or material impact so far," he said.

As far the parishes that were more severely impact by Hurricane Sandy, Thompson said business in those areas constituted just about two to three per cent of the company's property portfolio.

Insurance Company of the West Indies (ICWI) also reported a low level of claims received - only eight.

ICWI head Paul Lalor said seven claims were related to property and one to motor damage.

"The claims relate primarily to flooding and roof damage, but the issue is that it was felt particularly over the east, and it was agriculture that was mostly worst hit, so we don't expect a great deal," said Lalor.

"So it's little or nothing, and we expect it will be more like infrastructure damage than actual losses," he said.

Hurricane Sandy hit Jamaica on October 24.


Source:
sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com
Jamaica Gleaner
Wednesday October 31, 2012

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121031/business/business7.html