Munich Re, the German-based reinsurance company, has revealed that the first hurricane of the season to impact the US will cost it between E70 and E130 million.
The current estimate for damage claims for the Munich Re group is at about E100 million plus or minus 30%, a Munich Re spokesman said according to Reuters. However, the German insurer said it could not predict at this stage what affect the hurricane would have on its earnings outlook for the year.
Fellow reinsurer, Hannover has been bolder in its evaluation of Dennis however. Hannover, which is also one of the leading reinsurance providers globally, said that it did not expect the hurricane to affect its profit forecast.
Dennis, which swept across the Caribbean before hitting the south east states of the US, will cause concern to the insurance industry because it has occurred so early in the storm season. Insurers’ ability to cope with the devastation cause by natural hazards was severely tested last year due to the high frequency of destructive events in August and September and the contemplation that the storm season is extending is a worrying trend.
Overall, according to figures quoted by Bloomberg, Dennis is forecast to cost the insurance industry between E3 and E4 billion, making it half as destructive in financial terms as last year’s major storm Ivan.