NU Online News Service, March 4, 12:34 p.m. EST
Germany-based Hannover Re said it expects to take as much as $209 million (EUR $150 million) in losses from the Feb. 22 New Zealand earthquake.
Hannover, one of the world's largest reinsurers, said the estimate is based on insured market losses of NZ$10 billion (US$7.42 billion).
Catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide said losses from the magnitude 6.3 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand are expected to be between NZ$5 billion (US$3.5 billion) and NZ$11.5 billion (US$8 billion).
Hannover said its losses will not increase, even if the insured market loss does, because of its retrocession structure.
Based on the information it had at hand, Swiss Re recently gave a much higher estimate of losses due to the quake.
Swiss Re said it expects its insured losses from the quake to be approximately $800 million.
Validus Holdings said the earthquake could cost the company between $25 million and $50 million.
Guy Carpenter said the New Zealand earthquake will not be the type of event to harden the reinsurance market. David Flandro, global head of business intelligence for the reinsurance intermediary, said global reinsurance capacity remains more than adequate.
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