U.S. Insurers: Mexico Quake Impact Small

By Michael Ha

NU Online News Service, Jan. 23, 12:15 p.m. EST?Tuesday's killer earthquake that rippled through western and central Mexico, leveling scores of homes and commercial buildings, is not likely to have much impact on U.S. insurance companies, an industry information group reported.

According to the Insurance Information Institute in New York, only a couple of U.S. carriers have a sizeable market share in Mexico, in terms of premium income.

Among the U.S. insurers active in Mexico is Kemper, which said today that so far it has not sustained any claims.

Another big U.S. insurer with Mexican interests is New York-based American International Group. AIG Mexico has the ninth-biggest market share in the Mexican p-c insurance market, with about 2 percent of the market share. In 2000, it recorded some $93 million in written premiums in this market, I.I.I. said.

AIG did not immediately respond to an inquiry concerning quake damage.

Long Grove, Ill.-based Kemper Insurance Companies' Kemper de Mexico has a market share that is ranked eighteenth overall, with slightly less than one percent of the overall market share, according to I.I.I. data.

Jeff Moder, a spokesperson for Kemper, said today that his company has exposures in the areas affected by Tuesday's earthquake. "But as of yesterday, we did not have any losses reported. But that's not to say it won't change," Mr. Moder said.

Mr. Moder noted that Kemper's 2000 gross written premiums in the Mexico p-c insurance market was $53.4 million.

The earthquake has so far killed more than 20 people, injured 190, and collapsed dozens of houses in the region, according to information gathered by AIR Worldwide, a unit of Insurance Services Office in Jersey City, N.J.

The national seismological service in Mexico has put the earthquake's magnitude at 7.6 on the Richter scale, but the U.S. Geological Survey came up with a slightly higher number, at 7.8. AIR Worldwide is currently using its earthquake-loss estimation model to get an estimate for insured losses in the earthquake.

Special Reports /

U.S. Insurers: Mexico Quake Impact Small

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