Top causes of insurance claims

Over the past five years, fire and explosion, natural catastrophes and faulty workmanship or maintenance have been the major causes of loss by value of insurance claims according to the Global Claims Review 2022 published by Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS).

The new report identifies the top causes of loss for companies from more than 530,000 insurance claims in over 200 countries and territories that it has been involved with between 2017 and 2021. These claims have an approximate value of EUR88.7bn ($90.6bn), which means that the insurance companies involved have paid out – on average – over EUR48m every day for five years to cover the losses. AGCS chief claims officer and board member Thomas Sepp said, “Insurance claims from companies have become more severe over the past five years due to factors such as higher property and asset values, more complex supply chains and the growing concentration of exposures in one location, such as in natural catastrophe-prone areas.

“The future does not look brighter anytime soon. Companies and their insurers have shown resilience to weather the loss impact of the pandemic, but the ongoing war in Ukraine, a spike in the cost and frequency of business interruption losses and the sustained elevated level of cyber claims are creating new challenges.”

Mr Sapp said, “At the same time, the top two causes of claims, fires and natural hazards, remain significant loss drivers for companies. Last but not least, the impact of soaring inflation around the world will bring further pressure on claims costs.”

The analysis shows that almost 75% of financial losses arise from the top 10 causes of loss, while the top three causes account for close to half (45%) of the value. Despite improvements in risk management and fire prevention, fire/explosion (excluding wildfires) is the largest single identified cause of corporate insurance losses, accounting for 21% of the value of all claims.

Natural catastrophes (15%) rank as the second top cause of loss globally by value of claims. Collectively, the top five causes (based on more than 20,000 claims around the world) – hurricanes/tornados (29%); storm (19%); flood (14%); frost/ice/snow (9%) and earthquake/tsunami (6%) account for 77% of the value of all disaster claims.

Faulty workmanship/maintenance incidents are the third top cause of loss overall (accounting for 9% by value) and are also the second most frequent driver of claims (accounting for 7% by number, ranking only behind damaged goods with 11%). Costly incidents can include collapse of building/structure/subsidence from faulty work, faulty manufacturing of products/components or incorrect design.

Source: asiainsurancereview.com