ACE Estimates $450-550 Million Katrina Net Losses After-tax

ACE Limited CEO Evan Greenberg has issued a statement from the Group’s Bermuda headquarters indicating that preliminary estimates of total net losses from Hurricane Katrina “for the entire ACE Group of Companies will be approximately $450 million to $550 million after-tax.”

ACE was one of the 10 companies placed on a “Katrina” CreditWatch/Negative by Standard & Poor’s (See IJ Website Sept.12).

Greenberg noted: “Hurricane Katrina, the category 4 storm that struck the Gulf Coast of the United States on August 29, and the flooding caused by the failure of the levee system in New Orleans have produced losses on an unprecedented scale. The human suffering and economic damage are staggering, and our hearts go out to all those who have been directly affected. Due to the size and complexity of the storm and flooding, total covered losses for the insurance industry remain hard to predict, although it is clear that losses will be widespread and affect all areas of the industry. ACE will not know exact losses with certainty for some time to come.”

On Friday, September 2, ACE announced the creation of the ACE Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, which will accept contributions from all ACE employees around the world and match those contributions at a rate of 100 percent. Additionally, the Company will make a $1 million contribution to the Fund.