1 November 2016 Insurance

October earthquakes unlikely to impact Italian insurers

Italian insurers’ ratings are likely to be unaffected by the earthquakes that struck central Italy recently, according to a Fitch Ratings report.

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake that hit Italy on October 30 was the strongest in over 30 years in the country, according to catastrophe modelling firm AIR Worldwide. It was followed by seven magnitude 4.0 earthquakes or greater.

The report, titled “Fitch: limited impact from earthquake for Italian insurers”, noted that Italy has declared a state of emergency in the region hit by the earthquakes meaning that certain losses will be covered by a state fund for emergencies, limiting losses for insurers.

“We expect insured losses to be below the EUR100 million-EUR200 million range that we had estimated for a similar event that struck a nearby area on August 24, 2016,” the report said.

“Our estimate reflects the low density of population and businesses and limited insurance coverage in the region. Claims of this magnitude would not have a significant impact on insurers’ underwriting profits for 2016.”

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