Catlin Group Limited, a Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance company, yesterday said it expects losses in the region of $45 million from fourth-quarter storm Hurricane Wilma.

Catlin?s initial estimate, indicating the estimate could be altered as claims are filed, is net of reinsurance it may have bought to help protect it from losses.

Catlin?s disclosure comes as a wave of reinsurers and insurers begin the process of disclosing preliminary estimates to investors and policyholders of what they expect to pay out for Wilma, the latest storm to hit the US after a string of storm activity this year.

Catlin?s advisory also updated stakeholders on earlier estimates issued for losses from Katrina and Rita.

Catlin said its earlier estimate for Katrina net losses of $125 million was expected to come in higher, although it yesterday said that little new claims information has emerged. It increased its projected net loss to $200 million for Katrina.Parts of the US Gulf Coast region hit by Katrina on August 29 are still far from recovery with some areas still not cleared of floodwaters, and without power since the storm.

Catlin?s view that its Katrina losses could come in higher than first expected was based on ?anecdotal information, loss advices on individual inwards reinsurance contracts and the weight of market commentary,? it said in the Press statement.

And the company said there had been no material change to its initial estimated net loss of approximately $60 million from Hurricane Rita.

Catlin?s estimated net losses from Katrina, Rita and Wilma total approximately $305 million.

Insurers are bracing for total hurricane losses of up to $75 billion this year. The hurricane season ended on Wednesday.

Industry estimates for Wilma, a damaging storm that hit parts of the Caribbean, Mexico and southern Florida in October, range up to $12 billion, while Hurricane Rita, which struck Texas and Louisiana in September, could cost up to $5 billion.

Katrina is expected to be the costliest catastrophe ever with insurance claims expected to come in between $40 billion and $60 billion.

It killed some 1,300 people, and estimates for the total cost of rebuilding the area are in the region of $200 billion.

Wilma, Katrina and Rita were all Category 5 hurricanes, the strongest on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, at some point.