Lloyd's of London insurance market today estimated its net loss from the attacks on the World Trade Centre at $2.85 billion.
Its estimated losses from the September 11th attacks are already its biggest ever from a single disaster and it estimated its projected loss for 2001 to be $2.2 billion, calculated using its usual three-year accounting method.
Lloyd's reports its results three years in arrears because some insurance claims take a long time to settle.
Using one-year accounting, the pro forma loss for 2001 was projected to be $4.5 billion, reflecting the brunt of the World Trade Centre losses.
Under three-year accounting, the burden of claims is spread over a number of years, whereas they are written off as they become known in one-year accounts.
It said that barring any further catastrophes, it was confident of a return to profitability in 2002.
Reporting its results for the past three years, Lloyd's said it made a final loss of $2.8 billion in 1999, compared with its previous loss projection of $2.4 billion.
It gave a preliminary loss estimate for 2000 of $2.47 billion, up from its earlier forecast loss of $2.14 billion.