Advisen Says Hurricanes To Cost Insurers $58 Billion

Insurance and reinsurance losses related to the three major hurricanes that hit the U.S. this year will amount to $57.6 billion, making the cumulative catastrophe losses the largest on record, according to Advisen Ltd.

Based on reported property and business interruption losses to date, the New York-based consulting firm said it calculated current after-tax totals per hurricane as follows:

o Katrina==$28 billion.

o Rita==$4.5 billion.

o Wilma==$4.8 billion.

Adding in estimated unreported losses from State Farm and unreported losses from regional mutual insurers and smaller global reinsurers; developing, and as yet un-filed claims for damage from Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Wilma, and the impact of income taxes, Advisen projected pre-tax insured losses per hurricane to be $40.4 billion for Katrina, $6.4 billion for Rita, and $10.8 billion for Wilma.

The losses amount to more than twice the annual total for other U.S. natural disasters and one and a half times the losses from the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Advisen said.

Advisen said that several unsettled variables could cause estimates to increase dramatically. Flood losses could elevate estimates by billions of dollars if the various lawsuits to force insurers to cover flood damage related to Katrina are successful. Additionally, several hurricane-related pollution lawsuits could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the totals. Advisen said it anticipates it would be several months before these factors are settled.