Australian bushfire insurance losses lifted 19% to A$1.86bn: PERILS

Zurich-based catastrophe insurance data provider PERILS has raised its estimate of re/insurance industry losses from Australian Bushfires of 2019-2020 by nearly 19 percent to A$1.86 billion ($1.3 billion).

The industry loss data cover the peak period for the bushfires which occurred during the turn of the year, and is based on detailed loss data collected from the vast majority of the Australian insurance market.

It compares to PERILS’ earlier loss estimates of A$1.57 billion ($1.05 billion) which were issued in February and April 2020, respectively.

Darryl Pidcock, head of PERILS Asia-Pacific, said: “This industry loss footprint is the first time PERILS has reported a bushfire event in Australia at such a detailed resolution. By providing the bushfire loss data and intensity information on a postcode and LOB level, we believe this can help the insurance industry better understand the impact of future bushfire events.

"The affected communities have been significantly impacted by these losses and are now facing additional pressures from the coronavirus pandemic. Our thoughts go out to those affected and we hope that they can rebuild their lives as soon as possible.”