Swiss Re Estimates Aggregate Claims for Hurricanes Charley and Frances to be Under $300 million

Swiss Re announced that based on current estimates, it expects that its aggregate claims related to the hurricanes Charley and Frances will be under $300 million before tax.

The reinsurer’s estimate on Hurricane Frances noted that it had made landfall on Sept. 5 as a category 2 hurricane with winds of up to 170 km/h (105 mph) and had caused “significant damage to property. The insured loss is expected to be in the range of $4 billion to 6 billion.”

Swiss Re’s estimates of the total insured losses from Charley, a category 4 storm, which struck Florida’s west coast three weeks earlier, were expected to be in the $6 to $8 billion range.

It also noted that it had taken into account Typhoon Chaba, which made landfall on August 30 on Japan’s south-western coast as a class 2 cyclone, and two earthquakes on September 5 of the magnitude 7.1 and 7.0 that struck off the coast of Japan.

“The combined effect of all these events will not change Swiss Re’s positive outlook for 2004 and its combined ratio target for the full year of 96 percent,” the announcement concluded.