Weather

USAA’s losses put it on track to recoup another $82mn from its cat bonds, following a projected $182mn recovery in 2017.

The cat bond is the first since 2013 for the state wind pool.

A decrease in capacity following last year’s losses is thought to be one of the largest drivers of the rate increase.

The New York-listed company said in December it expected $17mn catastrophe losses in its Q4 results.

Friederike, a compact and fast-moving extratropical cyclone, struck four countries in January last year.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has now tracked more than $5bn of Hurricane Michael claims.

The Californian wildfires, Hurricane Michael and Typhoons Jebi and Trami pushed up losses.

The utility expects to source enough cash to finance its ongoing operations.

The updated $110mn to $130mn estimate is more than double the prior projected Q4 loss ahead of the wildfires.

Reinsurers are still figuring out just how costly 2018 was in terms of disaster losses – after all, 2018 has only just wrapped up and events such as the Sydney hailstorms lumped on further costs late in the year.

The Florida-based carrier renewed aggregate reinsurance covering non-hurricane losses, including a $30mn single-provider deal and a larger $85mn programme.

The Australian carrier said December’s Sydney hailstorm would trigger its per-occurrence reinsurance.