Brought to you by:

Japanese insurers set to ride out flood claims

Japan’s general insurers will not be significantly affected by the worst floods to hit the country in more than 30 years, Moody’s says.

The credit impact will be small because the industry has strong underwriting discipline in commercial flood policies and reinsurance programs will mitigate net losses.

The flooding is limited to areas near peripheral rivers, the ratings agency says.

“This implies that only smaller rivers were subjected to flooding. As a result, we do not expect significant related insured losses.”

A Moody’s spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au it has yet to estimate the damage bill from the floods, which caused extensive property losses.

It says insurers face high uncertainty around loss estimates as recovery and rebuilding efforts begin.

Modeller AIR Worldwide says the death toll has passed 180 and the Government has deployed more than 70,000 emergency personnel to aid the recovery.

The floods are the worst disaster in Japan since the 2011 tsunami and earthquake.

“In just a few days, parts of Japan received four times the rainfall typically expected in… July,” AIR Worldwide Principal Scientist Hemant Chowdhary said.

“Many locations set records for rainfall during a 24-hour, 48-hour and 72-hour period.”