Meanwhile, the New York Insurance Association (NYIA) says the “vast majority” of 30,000 claims filed after September 11 have been settled. “Many were settled within days,” NYIA Vice-President Ellen Melchionni told a state inquiry into insurance.

The majority of unsettled claims “are likely to be the most complex claims or involve independent loss adjusters who have inflated claims and now require litigation for a reasonable settlement”.

As for complaints, Ms Melchionni said they totalled less than 400. “Only 27 of those complaints were ever substantiated.”

While the World Trade Centre loss was the biggest insurance payout in history, the industry has “bounced back and demonstrated its resolve”, she said. “We continue to experience the ups and downs of the hard and soft market as the industry gets back to the customary insurance cycle.”