Insurers well covered for Queensland floods
The scale of the Queensland floods may be dramatic but Australian insurers should not be too financially stressed due to their catastrophe reinsurance arrangements, according to an analysis issued by Fitch Ratings.
The ratings company said that catastrophe reinsurance arrangements had served to offer reasonable protection to Australia’s major non-life insurance companies.
What is more, Fitch Ratings director John Birch claimed that, initially, insured losses appeared to have been relatively low because the areas affected had been less densely populated.
“However, with the floods now inundating Ipswich and Brisbane cities, losses could escalate substantially,” he said.
The Fitch analysis said that measured by premium volume, Suncorp group had the largest exposure in the Queensland region on the basis of having originated $1.9 billion of premiums from the state in the year to 30 June.
It said Insurance Australia group had generated around $600 million of premiums from Queensland, while QBE also had a substantial but undisclosed exposure.
Fitch stressed that all the insurers had more than adequate catastrophe reinsurance arrangements in place.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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