2022 off to a catastrophic start; insured losses over $14bn: Aon

Global catastrophes may have rendered over $31 billion in economic losses to hand insurers a bill in excess of $14 billion, down against 2021, but up again vis-à-vis long-term trends.

First quarter 2022's $14 billion price tag is less than half of the Q1 2021 surge and firmly in a range set 2017-2020. Of the Q1 sum, write $15 billion to the APAC region, $7 billion to Europe and $6 billion to the US.

“The first quarter is typically the quietest of the year, though 2022 marked the sixth consecutive year to record more than $10 billion in insured losses,” analysts at Aon said in their just-released ‘Q1 Global Catastrophe Recap.’

Secondary perils have risen amongst drivers of Q1 heightened readings, a period in which volatility had traditionally been traceable to earthquakes, authors noted.

In the Q1 tally, the series of European windstorms likely rendered the largest price tag at $4.3 billion. Windstorm Eunice may have been the single costliest individual low-pressure system to impact Europe since Xynthia in 2010. Europe is on track for its worst year of windstorm losses since 2013.

The March 16 7.3 earthquake just offshore Japan’s Fukushima region ranks high with $2 billion in insured losses.

February-March flooding through New South Wales and Queensland in Australia had a reported price tag of A$2.43 billion ($1.8 billion) as of April 8 and continues to rise as claims flow.

In the US, La Niña condition triggered an early onset of the convective storm season and the first-ever March above the 200-tornado threshold. Aon foregoes a precise insured loss forecast and says only "multi-billion-dollar loss."

Readings remain preliminary and authors warn that “with many large scale and impactful events occurring in the month of March, it is expected that event loss totals will continue to develop in the weeks and months ahead.”

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