Amongst the first marine losses reported into Miller once Harvey struck were a significant stock throughput loss at an agricultural warehouse and substantial property damage at a Texan yacht club. Our energy claims team also received numerous notifications of property and business interruption losses at power plants, generation facilities and refineries.

Since those initial reports, claims teams across Miller have been assisting clients quantify the scale of property damage caused by the hurricanes – also the financial loss resulting from interruption to insureds’ businesses – and working with underwriters to quickly obtain claims funding. The Lloyd’s market as a whole has also been quick to respond, with USD650m of claims paid within weeks of Harvey striking.

Significant Miller placed cover

For Irma alone, Miller is responsible for over USD400m of insured values in the British and US Virgin Islands, including, homeowners, commercial business, hotels and resorts. Miller also placed several open market risks within Irma’s wind path, with significant sums insured.

Adjusters’ early estimates are showing average losses around USD200K for homeowners, USD500K on executive homes and USD1m for commercial businesses.

In Florida, Miller supports 45,000 policies via six coverholders across 18 contracts, mainly in respect of homeowners and commercial policies. And in Texas, Miller supports 30,000 policies via two coverholders across 15 contracts, mainly in respect of homeowners.

Pre-emptive approach

By using the predictive capability of our proprietary FARS online mapping system, our claims specialists were able to accurately pinpoint areas of impact across North America, days in advance, identifying exposures and likely losses. Some 2,000 policies were identified within Harvey’s wind path, with more than USD300m of insured values at risk.

Armed with reliable pre-event information Miller claims teams were then able to put coverholders and underwriters on notice, and provide third party administrators with the data they needed to deploy loss adjusters when and where they were needed most.

Using FARS we estimated that some 17,000 policies were within Irma’s wind path in Florida, with more than USD2bn of insured values at risk. Fortunately, early reports suggest this will be a low impact wind event, given the storm was downgraded to a CAT 1 shortly after landfall.

Strong market response

The response from our markets continues to be extremely positive. With over USD50m of initial loss funding secured so far, and with enhanced claims handling authorities put in place, we’ve been helping coverholders and third party administrators provide a fast and efficient settlement service to our US and Caribbean insureds.

With empowered specialists in all of our fields of business and alignment throughout the organisation, Miller’s claims teams are structured to ensure rapid understanding of the challenges facing each client and provide relevant focussed guidance. Streamlined systems and first rate market relationships enable Miller to deliver vital information to underwriters and obtain claim funds for our clients quickly and with a minimum of fuss.

For more information on Miller’s claims service contact either Andrew Ford or Murray Edward.