NZ quake costs Validus up to $50m
Bermuda reinsurer Validus Holdings Ltd has estimated its losses from last week’s deadly New Zealand earthquake at between $25 million and $50 million.It based this on an industry loss estimate for the earthquake, which left more than 100 people dead in the city of Christchurch, of between $8 billion and $10 billion.Another Bermuda market reinsurer to be counting the cost of first-quarter catastrophes on the other side of the world was Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings, SA, which said catastrophes in Australia are expected to cost the company between $60 million and $80 million.These events were large-scale flooding in Queensland and Victoria in January and Tropical Cyclone Yasi, a Category 4 storm which hit northern Queensland earlier this month.Flagstone said it was too early to estimate losses form last week’s earthquake, but stressed that it was protected by multiple layers of reinsurance, should the loss prove to be significant.