The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A leading Bahamian insurer yesterday said Hurricane Sandy was likely to produce damages claims "a bit higher" than the more than $50 million worth incurred industry-wide last year from Irene.

Timothy Ingraham, president of Summit Insurance Company, said that while all Bahamian property and casualty underwriters were still in the early assessment stages, islands not impacted in 2011 seemed to have suffered some damage from Sandy's passage.

Noting the flooding that had affected Queen's Cove in Grand Bahama, Mr Ingraham, a past Bahamas Insurance Association (BIA) president, told Tribune Business that insured losses stemming from Sandy would have "a significant impact" on the sector's 2012 profit projections.

With large fire-related claims much reduced compared to 2011, Bahamian general insurance underwriters were set to enjoy good bottom lines for 2012 until this late storm appeared.

"We're still in the process of assessing things," Mr Ingraham confirmed, adding that loss adjusters and other insurance industry personnel were only just now beginning to access some of the hardest-hit Family Islands.

"This certainly seems to be a bit worse than Irene was last year," he added, "in that we had a lot of coastal erosion on the north coast of New Providence. Queen's Cove was flooded in Grand Bahama, and that island was not involved with Irene.

"It would mean that losses will be a bit higher than they were in Irene, as Grand Bahama for the most part was unaffected. We also have other islands to the south which bore the brunt of Sandy that were not affected by Irene.

"At the moment, it looks like a loss around the size of Irene. That would have been over $50 million industry-wide. I would suspect this one might have moved a bit higher."

Mr Ingraham said properties in low-lying coastal areas appeared to have been harder hit this time around. He added, though, that by afternoon today Summit and other Bahamian general insurance carriers would "have a pretty good handle on things" as loss adjusters moved into the field.

Asked about Hurricane Sandy's likely impact on sector profits, the Summit chief told Tribune Business: "I think that certainly it's going to have a significant impact on most of us. We will have to bear some losses from the claims.

"Just how significant depends on what the numbers, the estimates look like a week to 14 days from now. At this point, all we can do is wait and see, roll up our sleeves and get to work taking care of clients, getting claims resolved as quickly as possible. Hopefully, there will be as little pain as possible after that."

Bahamas First, which insures a lot of risk in Abaco, Eleuthera and other Family Islands, incurred the lion's share of Irene-related losses via 1,000 claims. That, together with several major fires, wiped some $6.5 million off its bottom line in 2011.

Insurance Company of the Bahamas (ICB) experienced $13 million in gross claims last year, some $6.7 million resulting from Hurricane Irene and $6.3 million from various fires - including two prominent blazes on Bay Street.

Similarly, fellow property and casualty insurer, Summit Insurance, suffered more than 400 Irene-related claims totalling a gross $6.5 million.

The trends, and loss shares, are likely to be similar this time around.