According to Allianz, fires and explosions have caused in excess of €18bn in insurance losses (average claim loss equating to €1.5m) from over 12,000 claims over the past five years. Fires and explosions were also responsible for 13 of the 20 largest non-natural catastrophe loss events analysed.
The report claimed that “natural catastrophes (15%) rank as the second top cause of losses globally by value of claims,” and that “losses continue to rise with climate change and changes to exposures.” This included increased economic activity in natural catastrophe zones.
The review also noted that the “analysis of more than 20,000 claims around the world, with an approximate value of €13.7bn, shows that hurricanes/tornados are the most expensive cause of natural catastrophe loss, accounting for 29% of the value of all claims.”
This has been driven by the fact that two Atlantic hurricane seasons out of the previous five (2017 and 2021) now rank among the top three most active and costliest seasons on record, claimed the review.
Collectively, the top five causes of loss – hurricanes/tornados (29%); storm (19%); flood (14%); frost/ice/snow (9%) and earthquake/ tsunami (6%) account for 77% of the value of all nat cat claims,” it added.
Since the review, Allianz has said that insurers are seeing “newer and more-unusual loss scenarios” with examples such as the freezing in Texas last year highlighted. This event caused “huge disruption to infrastructure and manufacturing,” commented Allianz, with estimated economic losses up to $150bn.
Thomas Sepp, Allianz chief executive has said, “The war in Ukraine [has] caused further price shocks for a wide range of commodities, energy, and food.
“As a corporate insurer, we find several specific inflationary trends particularly alarming, and we are closely monitoring how price indices for energy, raw materials, and construction costs are developing because these have an immediate impact on businesses and on potential claims.”
