Claims and losses

Investment bank Jefferies has warned that (re)insurer loss estimates from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the two Mexican earthquakes in September are likely to rise next year, fuelling rate increases in 2018.

Four new wildfires have torn through southern California, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and destroying hundreds of buildings, according to reports.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) has announced it would submit a claim to recover the whole of the $1.042bn of reinsurance coverage for the National Flood Insurance Program, following losses from Hurricane Harvey alone.

Nationwide is expecting a gross loss of more than $1.3bn from the Californian wildfires which tore through the state in October, sister publication Trading Risk revealed earlier today

RenaissanceRe has said that the October Californian wildfires would have a $90mn net negative impact on its fourth quarter results

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (Prepa) has notified its property insurers of a loss of at least $300mn as a result of Hurricane Maria, The Insurance Insider has learned

The California wine country wildfires in October left at least $9bn in insured losses, the state’s industry regulator said today as a fresh set of fires raged in the Los Angeles area.

AIR Worldwide has significantly lowered its range of loss estimates for Hurricane Maria to $27bn-$48bn, The Insurance Insider understands.

FM Global has told its reinsurers that it does not expect Hurricane Maria claims in Puerto Rico to attach its main property cat excess-of-loss programme, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Berkshire Hathaway has the largest exposure on Pacific Gas and Electric's $850mn general liability programme, which could be significantly eroded by the Californian wildfires, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

The third quarter catastrophes are estimated to have generated around $100bn in insured losses - still the most widely circulated claims tally despite recent market scepticism, with only around a third of that sum having been publicly disclosed to date.

Investment returns remained subdued year-on-year for the vast majority of the companies in our analysis, ranging from 1.7 percent to 6.5 percent for the third quarter.