Henan flood insured losses approach $2b

Only 67% of insurance claims have been settled.

The insurance losses from the Henan flood in July has reached $1.92b (CN¥12.4b) with claims of 513,200, according to a spokesperson from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC).

A total of 346,000 claims have been settled and payments of $1.07b (CN¥6.89b) have been made, bringing the total ratio of settled cases to 67%. Amongst those, the ratio of settled claims on personal and accident insurance, including accident and medical insurance, was 76%, the ratio for auto insurance was 86%, and 76% for agricultural insurance, with the ratio exceeding 94% for fully damaged autumn crops.

According to CBIRC they continue to proactively guide its local offices and insurance companies to establish and improve protection emergency response mechanisms, accelerate the pace of responsiveness and fully leverage the insurance function in economic compensation and social governance. 

“First, it requires insurance companies to actively support local governments in disaster relief, securing continuity of financial services, and facilitating post-disaster relief and reconstruction. Second, it calls upon insurance companies to implement undifferentiated relief, strengthen coordination in claim handling, specify disaster prevention and relief measures, and endeavor to make precise estimates of losses etc., so as to put in place emergency response working standards and ensure timely and effective response against emergencies. Third, it paces up the establishment of a multi-tiered insurance disaster response mechanism, which endeavors to identify the related response measures under different tiers of disaster incidents for regulators, insurance companies and other related entities,” CBIRC said.