Natural disaster insurance payouts hit four-year high in 2016
NAN-F-13
Disaster
Munich, Jan. 4, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Severe earthquakes and storms in 2016 drove natural catastrophe insurance payouts to their highest level in four years, the world’s largest reinsurer Munich Re said on Wednesday.
Losses due to natural disasters rose by two-thirds to 175 billion dollars over the past year, reaching the highest level since 2012, according to financial data released by the company.
The most expensive natural catastrophe in the past year was the two earthquakes on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu between April 14 and April 16, 2016, costing the company 31 billion dollars.
However from a long-term perspective, the number of catastrophes in 2016 were not drastically higher than other years, meaning that losses in 2016 did not exceed expected levels, according to chief executive Torsten Jeworrek.
Despite the rise in catastrophe insurance losses, the world’s third-largest reinsurer Hannover Rueck said it made surprisingly few losses in the second quarter of 2016, according to chief executive, Ulrich Wallin. (dpa/NAN)
(Edited by Julius Enehikhuere)