?SVB has chosen to limit coverage to G7 countries, so the impact will be minimal,? Jeremy Adams, chief executive of SVB Syndicates, said in a telephone interview yesterday. The Lloyd?s of London insurer provides marine, aviation and property insurance.

Lloyd?s, the world?s biggest insurance market, said yesterday it expects to pay for damage to Asian holiday resorts and ships as well as for personal injuries after an earthquake in Indonesia over the weekend triggered tidal waves from Thailand to India. Almost 80,000 people died in the tsunamis, and the number is still rising as more bodies are recovered.

Lloyd?s is facing one of its most expensive years ever for natural disasters after four hurricanes slammed the Florida coast in August and September, saddling the market with about $2 billion in claims. Disasters including the US storms and 10 typhoons in the Pacific Ocean will cost insurers $42 billion this year, Robert Hartwig, chief economist for the Insurance Information Institute in New York, said earlier this week.

Goshawk, owner of Bermuda-based Rosemont Re, ?has chosen to focus its property and marine underwriting on the G8 countries and as a result does not write any direct Asian treaty business? outside Japan, the company said today in a Regulatory News Service statement. Goshawk, a former Lloyd?s insurer, also said it has no ?travel or personal accident exposure.?

Shares of SVB dropped 7.1 percent to 32.5 pence in London, giving the company a market value of ?119 million ($228 million). Goshawk shares fell 0.6 percent to 39.75 pence