Zurich counting cost of disasters

ZURICH Financial Services today warned it faces a near-£100m claims hit from the Asian tsunami and the four hurricanes that ripped through the Caribbean and the US last year.

The Swiss insurance giant said net income for the final quarter of 2004 would be $185m less than expected. It was forced to book a $400m charge for the first nine months.

Zurich has been badly hit by the continuing flow of claims coming out of Florida and the West Indian islands which were hammered by storm damage last autumn.

Industry experts now believe the total storm bill from the four hurricanes - Charlie, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne - could be as much as $40bn once the final estimates are in.

Zurich's estimated claims bill from the tsunami is $65m. The company today revised its hurricane damage bill from $400m to $520m.

A spokesman said: 'It was difficult to get an accurate estimate in the first place and these numbers are still projections.

'As well as wind damage, which you can assess straight away, there has been a lot of flood damage.'