Harleysville, NYMAGIC Estimate Terrorist Attack Losses – Chubb , Fitch Opinions

Pennsylvania-based Harleysville Group Inc. and New York’s NYMAGIC, INC. indicated that they anticipated minimal exposure following last Tuesday’s terrorist attacks, while officials of Chubb and Fitch gave informal estimates.

Walter R. Bateman, Harleysville CEO, indicated that a preliminary assessment of potential claims confirmed that there wouldn’t be a major impact on the financial position of the company. He said that after provisions for reinsurance Harleysville expected net pretax losses to be around $3.6 million.

Most of the company’s exposure in Manhattan is limited to small business coverage said the announcement.

NYMAGIC, which specializes in ocean and inland marine and aircraft and non-marine liability insurance liability, said from its evaluation of potential losses it anticipated a net pretax loss in the 3rd quarter of no more than $9 million.

Reuters News Agency reported from Hong Kong that Chubb’s Sr. VP Brant Free told reporters that his company’s preliminary estimates now foresaw losses between $200 and $300 million after reinsurance. Chubb had initially set loss figures at between $100 and $200 million.

Free cautioned that his estimates did not represent the company’s official projections, which were still largely undetermined, as it gathered further information.

From its Stamford Conn. headquarters, Fitch Inc. indicated that it expected property/casualty losses would probably reach $30 billion or more and life insurance losses to be between $3 and $5 billion. According to a report by the Associated Press, Fitch said it expected to put between 12 and 17 insurance and reinsurance companies on on a rating watch in the next few days, some of them in Connecticut.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Profit Loss Chubb