General Insurance Article - Willis Re estimates Typhoon Haiyan losses up to $700m

 Richard Sanders, Executive Director at Willis Re Singapore, said: “Willis Re believes that the potential insurance market loss from this event could be in the region of USD 500 to USD 700 million. This estimate is based on detailed wind speed data from a range of sources that allowed Willis Re to derive a wind field map for the storm. We combined this wind field with our view of exposure and vulnerability from published academic sources to calculate the market loss.

 “As many of the exposures in the affected regions are uninsured or underinsured, potential post-catastrophe insurance recoveries are likely to be a relatively small proportion of economic losses. Whilst anecdotally, premium volume is growing faster than in many other regions of the world, the Philippines still has one of the lowest insurance penetration rates. Current estimates indicate that Haiyan will be counted as one of most the most significant storms in recent times for the Philippines, however it is too early to state with any certainty how much of the damage will end up as recoveries in the reinsurance market.”