Swiss Re estimates claims costs from hailstorms in Germany at US$240 million

Swiss Re’s claims burden from hailstorms in Germany this past July is estimated at approximately US$240 million, net of retrocession and before tax, accounting for about 10% of the estimated US$2.0 billion to $2.7 billion in related losses industry wide.

Swiss Re’s loss estimate follows a number of unusually strong hailstorms throughout Germany this summer, including one affecting the areas around Hannover and Wolfsburg on July 27 and another on July 28 that caused major damage around the cities of Rottenburg, Tuebingen und Reutlingen, notes a statement from the global reinsurer.

“The two hail tracks with golf-ball sized hailstones massively damaged roofs, smashed windows and destroyed solar panels and other installations,” Matthias Weber, group chief underwriting officer for Swiss Re, notes in the statement.

Last week, SCOR Global P&C issued its preliminary cost estimate of 50 million euros, after retrocession and reinstatements and before tax, for the hailstorms in Germany. “These events look set to be the most expensive German hail loss for many years, exceeding the 1984 Munich event which cost the industry around 1 billion euros (on an inflation-adjusted basis),” the reinsurer noted at the time.

PartnerRe Ltd., for its part, has reported its costs for the hailstorms in Germany are projected to run at between $50 million and $60 million pre-tax and net of retrocession and reinstatement premiums.

The estimated losses – to be recorded in the global reinsurer’s 2013 Q3 results – are based on information received to date from the company’s cedants and an analysis of its exposures, notes a statement from Partner Re. The majority of these losses are expected to impact the company’s catastrophe sub-segment.