FORT MCMURRAY FIRE COULD GENERATE C$6BN IN CLAIMS

The Fort McMurray wildfire in Canada’s Alberta province may generate as much as C$6bn ($4.6bn) in claims, which would make it the most costly Canadian disaster on record, rating agency DBRS has reported. The agency said that with the destruction or damaging of more than 2,400 properties insured losses could range from C$2bn to C$6bn. “This is an historically large number for the Canadian insurance industry in terms of catastrophic claims events and is shaping up to be the most expensive catastrophic natural disaster event in Canada,” DBRS said. Prior to the Fort McMurray blaze, the costliest Canadian natural disasters were the 1998 North American ice storm and the 2013 floods in Alberta, which each cost insurers C$1.9bn. Despite the heavy losses expected from the recent wildfire, DBRS said that insurers’ credit ratings are unlikely to suffer owing to the reinsurance programmes that companies have in place. Last week, Intact Financial, the country’s largest property/casualty group, said that its losses from the fire would be between C$130m and C$160m.