Atlantic Hurricanes Wipe Out Reinsurers’ Profits in Europe<br />Munich Re, by some measures the world’s largest reinsurer, said<br />that its losses from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria would be 2.7 billion euros, or $3.2 billion, though it warned that the estimate was “fraught with considerable uncertainty.” The losses will come to €3.2 billion including damage from other natural catastrophes such as earthquakes in Mexico, Munich Re said.<br />FRANKFURT — The financial damage from the hurricanes<br />that struck Texas, Florida and the Caribbean in recent months crossed the Atlantic on Thursday when Munich Re, a German insurer, warned that virtually all of its profit this year would be wiped out by the horrendous cost of the disasters.<br />Virtually all insurance companies that sell to consumers and businesses unload some of their risk to reinsurers like Munich Re, Swiss Re or SCOR SE, a French company<br />that also reported losses from the hurricanes on Thursday.<br />Early in the year, before the hurricanes struck, Munich Re had said its profit for the year would be at least €2 billion.<br />As a result, the company said on Thursday, it will report a loss of €1.4 billion<br />for the third quarter of 2017 and only a “small profit” for the full year.<br />Now, Munich Re and several other large reinsurers — companies<br />that effectively insure other insurers — have reported big losses resulting from the natural disasters.
