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Insurers are scrambling to cover up to $10 billion in losses from the Los Angeles wildfires, which ravaged some of California’s most exclusive neighborhoods, analysts said earlier.
Moody’s ratings agency said that “insurable losses are expected to reach billions of dollars, with homes and businesses in affected areas having high values.”
JPMorgan analysts said they believed insured losses “could be as high as $10 billion” based on an assessment of the affected area, in a “very preliminary estimate” to gauge the potential impact on investors.
Special insurance companies will face high fees focused on expensive homes, JPMorgan said in a note to clients. Allstate, Travelers and Chubb are among the most exposed carriers in the state. Chubb has a special focus on high-value assets.
More than 100,000 residents were ordered to evacuate, and fire officials said about 13,000 structures were at risk.
ElState and State Farm are among insurers that recently stopped selling new home insurance policies in the state, blaming regulatory restrictions on price increases that have made it more challenging to cover losses. Insurers have put their customers in very vulnerable positions.
State Farm last year announced While it will not renew policies for 72,000 homes and apartments in the state, 69 percent of its insurance plans have been covered by the recent wildfires in the Pacific Palisades area.
That has led many homeowners to turn to California’s state-sponsored equity plan, as well as less regulated home insurance policies, from “rejected” insurers.
Just under $6 billion was exposed to the Pacific Palisades area wildfires in late September.The Fair Plan provides up to $3 million in coverage per property.
Insurers and analysts said the damage caused $10 billion in insured losses in Butte County, Calif., including the 2018 campfire, the worst wildfire in recent years.
Climate change has exacerbated wildfire seasons in California. Expanded new development in fire-prone zones and wildlife areas around major cities has led to higher insurable losses, along with higher home values.
Property damage reinsurance or insurers’ insurance also has value. He rose sharply.
RenaissanceRe and ArchCapital are among the reinsurers exposed to the wildfires, JPMorgan said, but the bank’s analysts forecast losses for similar events before 2023 would be smaller.
That same year, many reinsurers raised the threshold at which policies begin to cover losses, making primary insurers more vulnerable than reinsurers.