The Farmers Insurance Group of Companies estimates its Hurricane Katrina losses will run between $200 million and $220 million from about 32,000 claims in the three states hit by the storm.
Farmers said the claims would come from homeowners and some auto business written in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. This business, markets which are relatively new for the carrier, represents 3 percent of market share.
The estimate, pretax after reinsurance, is within expected total catastrophe losses for the year. The loss will not affect its plans for surplus growth, the company added.
Rating agencies continued to take negative assessments of companies as they assess losses.
A.M. Best placed the financial strength rating of "A-minus (Excellent)" and its issuer credit ratings of "a-minus" of Quanta Reinsurance Ltd., based in Hamilton, Bermuda, and its subsidiaries, under review with negative implications.
Moody's Investors Service gave a stable outlook rating to Endurance Specialty, affirming current ratings on the insurance and reinsurance business. However, while its comments were generally positive, it did caution that the company's exposure to losses from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita would be "a key analytic consideration" going forward.
The rating service also placed Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited on review for possible downgrade after the company increased its net loss estimate from Katrina. The company estimate jumped from $150 million to between $325 million and $400 million.
Aiming to give insurers some help with raising capital in the investor's market, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it would issue new regulatory relief to make it easier for insurers to enter the equity markets. Commission Chairman Christopher Cox said the relief, intended to cut down on paperwork the carriers must file to seek investors dollars, would not negate regulatory oversight by the SEC.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
