US primary insurer Travelers has announced its preliminary estimate of catastrophe losses from the Los Angeles, California wildfires at $1.7 billion before-tax ($1.3 billion after-tax) and the company says these figures are net of reinsurance recoveries.The carrier explained that its estimate includes losses from both the personal and commercial segments, including the Fidelis quota share, as well as estimated assessments from the California FAIR Plan and reinsurance recoveries.Alan Schnitzer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “In moments like these, actions speak louder than words.As a company deeply embedded in the communities we serve, we are on the ground providing critical resources and support that our customers and neighbors need to recover and rebuild.

“We also extend our heartfelt appreciation to the first responders and relief organizations working tirelessly to aid those impacted by this tragedy, as well as to our claim professionals, who consistently go above and beyond to uphold the Travelers Promise to our customers and distribution partners.” If you recall, , however, given the tower has a retention of $4 billion, its important to note, that the reinsurance recoveries for the California wildfires don’t appear to be from this core reinsurance arrangement.Travelers does have other international reinsurance treaties in-force, although full-details on these have not been disclosed.The only one of which that it seems reinsurance recoveries could potentially be coming from, would be the arrangements that protect its operations in the Lloyd’s market, although we cannot be certain.

Outside of that, it is of course possible that Travelers has other private reinsurance arrangements in place, such as quota share arrangements, although we cannot be certain as any private arrangements the insurer has in-force have not been disclosed either.Travelers does also have one catastrophe bond in-force, with $575 million of reinsurance from the issuance from May 2022, but that does not cover the company against wildfire losses.and the first estimates of insurance industry losses from catastrophe risk modellers, so far have a mid-point of $31.125 billion.

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