Swiss Re sees limited tsunami damages

Swiss Re estimates its damages from Sunday's tsunami waves in Asia will be below 100 million Swiss francs (US$88.3 million).

Swiss Re estimates its damages from Sunday's tsunami waves in Asia will be below 100 million Swiss francs (US$88.3 million).

"The claims burden for the insurance sector will be in sharp contrast to the human and economic damages caused by the event," the world's second-biggest reinsurer said in a statement this morning.

It said most of the costs would come from insurance for property and for the interruption of business.

Swiss Re shares have been under pressure since Sunday's huge tsunami waves killed more than 82,000 people along the shores of India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and other nations lining the Indian Ocean, causing massive economic damage.

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But the losses for insurers may be less severe, analysts have said, as the disaster's victims were mostly poor people without insurance and the major European insurers and reinsurers have little exposure in the region.

"One can say this is some 3 to 4 percent of the estimated full-year pretax profit. Looking at it that way, it's within the margin of error," said Viktor Dammann, an analyst at Vontobel.

Swiss Re had said earlier that its losses from four hurricanes that wreaked havoc in the United States and a typhoon that hit Japan would amount to some $750 million, adding it might need to dip into its funds for unforeseen disasters to meet its profitability targets this year.