Insurers' asbestos bill may hit £10bn

BRITAIN'S insurance industry faces a bill of between £4bn and £10bn for asbestos-related claims over the next 30 years, according to new research.

Uninsured claims - which will largely fall on central and local government - will double the total to between £8bn and £20bn.

The wide estimate is because mesathelioma, the most serious asbestos-related disease, can take 30 to 50 years to develop. The prime period for exposure to asbestos in the UK was during the 1960s and 1970s.

A study by the Actuarial Profession found that the number of Britons dying from asbestos-related diseases will peak at around 2,000 a year during the next decade.

UK insurers have already paid around £1.3bn of claims, with an average £100,000 for mesathelioma.

Julian Lowe, of the Actuarial Profession, said use of asbestos has declined sharply in the UK but increased in developing nations such as Russia and China.

'It will be very sad if the lessons from Europe have not been learned,' he said. UK insurers and reinsurers, including Royal & SunAlliance, are on the hook for around £36bn of asbestos liabilities in the US.

The Lloyd's of London insurance market, which came to the brink of collapse in the 1990s because of its exposure to US asbestos claims, has set up reinsurer Equitas to cover its liabilities. Equitas has gross reserves of £4bn.