14 June 2017Insurance

Munich Re confirmed as main reinsurer on UK tower blaze

Norway's Protector Forsikring, the insurer on the London tower block that has been devastated by fire today (Wednesday June 14), has confirmed that all its property claims in UK and in the Nordic market are covered by Munich Re.

Six people have been confirmed dead so far as a result of the fire with more than 70 taken to hospital. The number of casualties is expected to rise. The tower has been gutted by the blaze and concerns have been raised that it could collapse.

Norway's Protector Forsikring has confirmed it is the insurer on the building and said that it expects the cost of the fire to be mainly picked up by its reinsurance programme meaning the impact on its earnings is expected to be negligible.

The insurer works with a much wider panel of reinsurers though it is not yet clear if any of these might also be hit by this claim.

In an investor presentation in April 2016 it listed the reinsurers it was working with as of March, 2016.

The full list of reinsurers at that stage included: Allied World Assurance Company, Amlin, Assurances Mutuelles de France, Aspen Insurance, Axis Re Europe, Beazley, Caisse Centrale de Reassurance, Catlin Re Switzerland, Chaucer Underwriting, Deutsche Ruckversicherung Schweiz, Hannover Re, Helvetia Swiss Insurance Company, Markel Switzerland, Munich Re, Nacional de Reaseguros, New Re, PartnerRe, Peak Re, Ironshore, Sirius and Swiss Re. In addition to this, it was working with a number of Lloyd’s Syndicates.

"As the insurance provider for Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Protector Forsikring ASA is involved in the tragic fire in Grenfell Tower," the company said in a statement.

"Our thoughts go to the people who lived in the building and their families. Protector will work closely with the local authorities and the rescue teams," it said.

Protector Forsikring is a Norway-based insurance company that provides general, non-marine insurance and reinsurance to commercial and public sector.

Today’s stories

Pool Re hires former Aon, Flagstone Re exec as head of distribution

Lloyd’s may face conflict with members in emerging market embrace

Anbang Insurance Group chairman steps aside, purportedly detained

Willis Towers Watson restructures corporate risk and broking unit

Neon acquires Guernsey MGA Sapphire Underwriters

JLT Re poaches Guy Carpenter SVP for North America practice

Everest Insurance hires from AIG to boost energy unit

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Elliot Field at efield@newtonmedia.co.uk or Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Insurance
26 June 2017   The insurance industry warned the UK government of the dangers of flammable external cladding on buildings a month before the Grenfell Tower blaze that killed at least 79 people.
Insurance
10 July 2017   Norway's Protector Forsikring, the insurer on the London Grenfell tower block that has been devastated by fire killing at least 80 people, has raised its expected gross claims from the tragedy to £50 million in its second quarter results report.
News
23 August 2017   Risk analytics firm Metabiota said on Aug. 22 that it signed a strategic agreement with Munich Re which is set to help the reinsurer to enhance insurability against losses related to epidemics.