The initial estimate of compensation cost related to flooding of Var (south) amounts to 700 million euros, approximately 45,000 claims, said Wednesday the president of the French Federation of Insurance Companies (FFSA) Bernard Spitz.
"We find orders of magnitude quite similar to (those of the storm, ed) Xynthia" for the party claims related to flooding and not the storm, said at a news conference, Mr. Spitz who noted that the average cost of a loss related to water was significantly higher than that of a loss related to the wind.
60% of the victims compensated in three months
The importance of the bill can be explained by the fact that many businesses were affected, and many car dealerships, said President of the FFSA, which also mentions several herds decimated."We do not yet make a more precise estimate than that," said Mr. Spitz, indicating that many insurers have themselves been victims of floods, making it difficult to make accurate estimates.
The torrential rains last week in the Var and the floods that have caused have affected 1,000 companies, according to the prefecture of the Var.
The cost of the storm Xynthia, which swept France in the west is February 28 and killed 53 people, was estimated by the FFSA to 1.5 billion euros, 700 million due to flooding to about 500,000 claims in total. Mr. Spitz said that in three months, about 60% insured Xynthia victims had received compensation.
deterioration of the profitability of insurers
"The year 2010 does not start better than 2009 in terms of claims," commented the managing director of the FFSA Jean-François Lequoy. Propagation of climatic events in 2009, including storms and Klaus Quinten, but also the increase of thefts and claims costs have put pressure on insurers, who have been forced to raise their prices in home and automobile.
The impact of floods but also Var Xynthia the storm on the combined ratio (compensation and overhead ratio of the amount of premiums collected) for insurers "will be visible," said Stéphane Penet, director of property insurance and liability The FFSA, which should lead to a further deterioration of the profitability of insurers.
Impact on the accounts of French insurance in 2010 should still be "substantially mitigated by the effect of reinsurance," assured Mr. Penette. Once again, Mr. Spitz called for strengthening the policy to prevent natural hazards in France. He has proposed to bring together all available data on the subject, by crossing those departments, insurers and the Central Reinsurance Fund (JRC). "There is a mobilization of public actors to improve the prevention work," observed the President of the FFSA.