Suncorp says its full-year natural hazard costs should remain with a $820 million allowance given strengthened reinsurance protection, despite an “unprecedented” start to the summer catastrophe season.

The company is one of the biggest buyers of reinsurance in the global market. It put in place additional reinsurance for this year and says it will provide more details on the expected interactions of its programs when it reports half-year financial results on February 11.

Losses from January fires, hailstorms and torrential storms are expected to be capped at $300 million, while Suncorp has confirmed natural hazard costs for the first half at $519 million.

“This has been an unprecedented start to the bushfire and storm season in Australia,” Suncorp CEO Steve Johnston said.

“We continue to mobilise our customer support teams on the ground where they’re needed the most and we have also increased the capacity of our contact centres to manage the increased volume of calls from our customers across the east coast.”

Suncorp says reserve releases for the first half will be $50-70 million, compared with $172 million a year earlier, due to a review of the bodily injury portfolio and a large single claim, as well as natural volatility in short-tail books in Australia and New Zealand, with a modest strengthening across a range of prior events.

S&P Global Ratings has revised its outlook on Suncorp to “positive” from “stable” given protection measures in place and benefits from the sale of the Australian life business.

“The positive outlook reflects our expectation Suncorp’s underlying earnings will prove relatively resilient to rising natural hazard costs and large claims,” it says.