Feature
Claims hit Tower profits A
higher volume of claims hit profits at insurance group Tower.
The insurance company saw profits for the six months to March fall to $2.98 million, down from $11.1 million in the same period the year before. Excluding large events, underlying profit reached $18.2m, up from $17.1m. Tower increased gross written premiums over the half year to $216.1 million, up from $194.6 million in the prior period. Tower chief executive Blair Turnbull said large event costs compared to the year before. Turnbull described the event costs as “substantial”. The large-claim events included $7.6m for the eruption of Tonga’s volcano and tsunami, $6.7m for March’s North Island rainstorms and $3.6m for cyclone Dovi, which hit NZ in February. On Newstalk ZB, Turnbull said
climate change was “increasingly affecting our communities”. “We are responding,” he added. “By expanding our risk-based pricing policies and focusing on a highquality reinsurance programme, we ensure Tower remains in the strongest possible position to continue protecting both our customers' and shareholders' interests."
Tower joined a host of other underwriters last year by introducing risk-based pricing, as the threat of large flood events grows in New Zealand. According to Lloyd’s of London, New Zealand is the second most vulnerable country in the world to natural disasters, behind only Bangladesh.
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