UK insurer Beazleyhas been dragged into the red by the costs of the Covid-19 pandemic. Beazley, which specialises in marine, property, data breach and life insurance, made a loss of $13.8m for the first half of 2020, down from a profit of $166.4m.
Its political, accident and contingency division bore the brunt of the pandemic, due to the “mass cancellation” of events.
It warned that the industry-wide costs will be huge: “In responding to this crisis, the insurance industry faces record losses on a par with major natural catastrophes. Having a well-diversified portfolio means our COVID-19-related claims are neither excessive nor restricted in any particular line of business.
“We have estimated that Beazley’s pandemic-related losses will amount to $170m net of reinsurance split between political, accident & contingency ($70m) and marine, property and reinsurance ($100m). There is still uncertainty around how COVID-19 will impact liability lines of business.”
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