Suncorp expects 44,000 flood catastrophe claims, raises hazard costs

Suncorp says total claims from the NSW/Queensland flood catastrophe will be around the 44,000 mark based on its latest projections and the business has raised its estimated natural hazard costs for this financial year to $1.1 billion from $1.075 billion previously.

The insurer provided the figures this morning in an update as the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says insurers have received almost 144,906 claims from policyholders related to the ongoing severe weather and flooding as of this afternoon.

ICA says its latest claims number represent a 3% increase from yesterday’s figures, which put the estimated cost of claims at around $2.11 billion.

Suncorp says it has received more than 34,000 claims with around 60% in Queensland and around 40% in NSW. More than 80% of the claims relate to home damage.

The insurer says the severe weather event stretched over 15 days from late February through early March, and it assessed there were four separate weather systems that led to four separate events.

The east coast flooding from February 23 to March 1 was the most significant, with 25,000 claims to date.

Suncorp says based on early provisional forecasts, its net retained loss from the four events remains unchanged at around $75 million.

Group CEO Steve Johnston says it will be a major rebuilding effort across multiple regions and the process will take many months.

“We are currently prioritising our most impacted customers, but we know every claim is important,” Mr Johnston said.

He again pressed for increased public investment on mitigation measures and removal of insurance taxes that are impacting affordability for communities who need insurance protection most.

He also backs ICA’s national campaign advocating for a rise in government resilience spending to $2 billion over the five years. The campaign was launched in February ahead of the federal election.

Mr Johnston says “affordability is a big issue” and one of the best solutions to the challenge is to abolish insurance taxes.

“If those taxes came off, it would immediately create a more affordable insurance market,” Mr Johnston said, adding all levels of government “need to get on the front foot” and work with the industry to mitigate against the flood risk.

“We’ve got to get the risk out or reduce the risk. We can’t just keep leaving the risk there and seeing the costs and the mop up continue to escalate,” he said.