PartnerRe, Converium, Transatlantic and SCOR Give Preliminary Loss Estimates from Hurricane Charley

Bermuda-based PartnerRe Ltd. estimated that claims relating to its exposure to Hurricane Charley are expected to be between $35 and $45 million. Transatlantic Holdings, Inc. announced from New York that its estimated net loss would amount to approximately $32.5 million, net of tax.

Swiss-based reinsurer Converium said it would have less than $25 million in gross losses from Charley, while France’s SCOR Group said its exposure would have an impact on its third-quarter results of less than 10 million euros ($12.3 million).

The estimates seem to confirm preliminary indications that, while Charley was a major catastrophic event, the storm’s impact is well spread out over the major insurers. So far only the world’s biggest reinsurers, Munich Re and Swiss Re, have announced loss estimates in excess of $200 million (See related article on AIG in National section).

PartnerRe President and CEO Patrick Thiele more or less summed up the industry’s current position as regards losses from Charley. “Our estimate is based on our proprietary model’s estimate of industry insured losses of approximately $6.5 – $8 billion, as well as a detailed treaty by treaty analysis of both our Bermuda and U.S. operations,” Thiele stated. “The level of our estimated claims is consistent with the characteristics of our diversified book of business, as well as with the characteristics of the event itself, which followed a narrow path over Cuba, through Florida, and eventually into the Carolinas,” he concluded.