NU Online News Service, April 12, 11:55 a.m. EDT
PERILS AG, the European insurance industry database combine, said its initial estimate of the property insurance loss for Windstorm Xynthia is EUR1.28 billion ($1.74 billion).
Zurich-based PERILS said its estimate for the storm, which occurred at the end of February, encompasses all nine countries currently covered by PERILS, with the main losses stemming from France, Germany and Belgium.
The estimate is based on the ultimate gross losses as reported by primary insurance companies–i.e. the total of paid, outstanding and incurred-but-not-reported claims–and excludes losses indemnified by the French CatNat government scheme.
Eduard Held, PERILS head of products, said, "Xynthia is the second event for which we have calculated a loss estimate based on our standard methodology. It helps us to establish a track record which will increase market participants' support for PERILS and further improve our products."
In January, PERILS issued its final loss estimate for Windstorm Klaus at EUR1.57 billion. The company said this deviated less than 5 percent from the initial loss estimate produced six weeks after the event, "proving the robustness of PERILS' market loss estimates."
Its updated estimate of the Xynthia market loss will be published on May 28, it said.
PERILS noted that its Industry Exposure & Loss Database is available to all interested parties via annual subscription. The Database contains industry property sums insured and loss information for nine European countries for residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural lines.
It also has the information on a CRESTA (Catastrophe Risk Evaluation and Standardizing Target Accumulations) zone level. CRESTA risk zones are essentially based on the observed and expected seismic activity, as well as on other natural disasters.
PERILS said its industry loss estimates, provided via its PERILS Industry Loss Index Service, can be used as triggers in insurance risk transactions such as industry loss warranty contracts (ILW) or insurance-linked securities (ILS).
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