Insurer RSA to take £50m hit from rain
RSA, Britain’s biggest commercial insurer, expects to take a hit of at least £50m from the recent heavy rainfall and flooding in the UK, it said on Wednesday.
“Following the wettest June on record in the UK … the net loss across the group’s UK household, motor and commercial property portfolios from last month’s adverse weather is estimated to be around £40m,” the company said in a statement.
“Current expectations are that the impact of the continued rainfall experienced to date in July will be around £10m.”
Record rainfall over the last three months has brought repeated flooding to parts of Britain, prompting warnings from analysts that insurers may miss profit targets because of a surge in claims.
RSA also said it expected losses related to two earthquakes in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy in May to come in at around 35 million pounds.
The insurer, best-known in Britain for its More Than home and motor insurance brand, said it continued to deliver a strong underwriting performance across its portfolio despite the weather hit.
Assuming a more normal level of weather losses in the second half, RSA said it expected its combined operating ratio for the full year to be better than 96 per cent.