Winter Storm Uri (update)

Winter Storm Uri, which saw Texas hit by freezing temperatures, snow and storm activity in February, is a major loss which had early estimated insured losses in the range of $10bn to $20bn.

As the market has gained some clarity on the event, the consensus now seems to be losses closer to the lower end of the range. In Lloyd’s, although loss notifications are only just starting to come though, our recent conversations with underwriters suggest that the overall loss appears to be less than initially feared, with the caveat that it still remains early to quantify the overall exposures to a loss of this nature. A $10bn US event is containable within our syndicates’ ‘cat loads’ for the year, although large US events usually materialise as part of the hurricane season in the latter part of the year so these may be tested. Having been incurred in the first quarter of the year, Uri could help to drive momentum on the renewal rates during 2021, particularly for the large US catastrophe programmes which typically renew on 1st June or 1st July, which have been lacking some decent upwards movement in recent years.