Insurers may still face nasty surprises in Canterbury quake bill, RBNZ says

Insurers may still face nasty surprises in Canterbury quake bill, RBNZ says
By Paul McBeth May 13 (BusinessDesk) - Insurers may face unexpectedly bigger costs over the Canterbury earthquake after several firms recently increased their estimates for the final bill, according to the Reserve Bank. The central bank now estimates the cost of the 2010 and 2011 quakes that devastated New Zealand’s second-biggest city will be between $33 billion and $38 billion, and says “there remains a risk of negative surprises to individual insurers.” As at March 31, insurers had paid out $24 billion in earthquake claims, and incr...