Fitch: Sandy insurance losses at least $20 bln

The insurance industry will likely post losses totaling $20 billion or more from Hurricane Sandy, as losses reported so far reached $16 billion to $17 billion, Fitch Ratings said
That estimate would put the total industry loss just below the high end of the range of the most recent insured losses estimated by third-party catastrophe modelers, the ratings firm said
Fitch added that the complexity of assessing the losses from such a large and intense storm over such a large area--particularly when evaluating the impacts of flooding and business interruption claims--has created uncertainty in estimating total insurance losses from Sandy With that in consideration, insurance companies were unable to report credible loss estimates until almost two months after the storm hit on Oct. 29
Due to the size and nature of Sandy, a larger proportion of losses were incurred from commercial lines versus personal lines, Fitch said
Primary writers with substantial Northeast catastrophe exposures are incurring the most significant losses, with reinsurers taking a more reduced, although still meaningful, share