The cat modelling organisation today published a fourth-quarter 2022 update to the Cresta Industry Loss Index (Clix). In its October update, the organisation found that international cat losses were above average for the year to that point.
The seven events outside of the US that exceeded the $1bn mark included the February European windstorm series of Dudley, Eunice and Franklin, and the eastern Australian floods in February and March.
The magnitude 7.3 earthquake that struck Fukushima in March and the KwaZulu-Natal floods in South Africa in April also made the list.
Later in the year, severe storms in Western Europe in early June and then mid-June also cost more than $1bn, while Typhoon Nanmadol in Japan in September was also a major event.
Cresta said the largest event loss outside the US last year was the eastern Australia flooding, which generated an industry loss of $4.7bn. The February European windstorms cost $4.2bn, while the Fukushima earthquake created a loss of $3.9bn.
The organisation found there has been a “significant increase” in insured losses for weather events in the past 20 years.
Between 2000 and 2009, losses from major weather catastrophes totalled $81bn, whereas, between 2010 and 2019, they hit $150bn.
In the first three years of the current decade, the industry has booked $46bn of losses from atmospheric perils.
Matthias Saenger, technical manager of Clix, said: “Only by properly understanding these trends can natural catastrophe insurance and reinsurance be offered on a sustainable basis, helping to alleviate the capacity constraints currently observed in the market.”
