Low interest rates are a “disaster” for the re/insurance industry, costing the same as three major hurricanes each year, Scor chief executive Denis Kessler said at a UK insurance conference.

Mr Kessler made the call for low interest rates to end during a panel discussion at the International Insurance Society’s 50th annual seminar in London yesterday, according to The Insurance Insider.

“My message to Mr Carney, Mr Draghi and Mrs Yellen is please stop ruining the re/insurance industry,” he said, referring to major central bank governors.

Mr Kessler is reported as arguing that the reinsurance industry was suffering unfairly from the aftermath of the financial crisis, and said: “We were not at the heart of the crisis nor did we did not create this crisis.

“Now we suffer on the asset side through low returns and we suffer on the liability side where there is pressure on rates due to low interest rates and the inflow of capital in search of yield.”

Mr Kessler called the ongoing low interest rate policy is a “disaster”, adding that it was costing the industry the equivalent of the losses caused by

hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma each year.

According to the publication, Kessler explained that repeated sizeable transfer of wealth from the re/insurance industry to governments and the banking system was hurting profitability.

“We are the collateral victims of the monetary policy which has been designed to help governments and banks after the financial crisis.”

“The problem now is (how) to get out of this situation”.

The Scor CEO said that his company was taking a short-term duration approach to investments to avoid unrealised capital losses on bond portfolios,