NU Online News Service, April 23, 11:29 a.m. EDT
Zurich Financial Services Group in Zurich, Switzerland, said based on preliminary estimates its loss from the Chile earthquake will be $200 million.
The figure is net of reinsurance recoverables and includes reinsurance reinstatement premiums. Charges will be recorded in first-quarter results due to be released May 6.
Zurich said the loss amount represents its current best estimate of the ultimate cost for the Feb. 27 event, but the nature of many of the losses and the extended remediation period to complete repairs means that uncertainty as to the final cost remains.
The company said that within 24 hours of the quake its dedicated response team was on the ground operating catastrophe claims handling, and the firm was among the first companies to make initial claims payments.
Zurich noted that the Chilean Insurance Association, Asociaci?n de Aseguradores de Chile, announced that the insurance industry had released $18.5 million in claims payments by March 24. The payments made by Zurich in this period would therefore correspond to over 90 percent of the reported industrywide early claims payments.
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