Chubb Chairman and CEO Evan Greenberg appeared on the American business news channel CNBC this morning to discuss Chubb’s response to Hurricane Harvey and preparations for Hurricane Irma.
When asked about the size of potential losses from Harvey, Evan explained it was too early to tell. “Harvey is more of a flood event than a wind event. It’s a more complex storm. It hit a major urban industrial center. It’s an event that takes time to understand the actual size and the losses that will be produced from it.” When asked for a financial estimate, Evan noted, “it’s too early to assess the impact to Chubb. It will have an impact on us, which we expect. For the industry, it’s too early to assess but my gut says somewhere in that $20-25 billion range.”
On Chubb’s response to Harvey, Evan also spoke with pride about the company’s service so far. “We have hundreds on the ground right now. We’ve had thousands of claims reported and we’ve spoken to all of our claimants. We’ve inspected a third of their properties or more – many commercial and personal clients. Chubb is known for its service.”
The panel asked how Chubb addresses prioritization of claims given the magnitude of a storm like Harvey. “First of all, it depends where you can get in. Access is still an issue. And by the nature of what is reported you try to get into the most difficult ones – the most severe losses.” Evan also was asked about preparation for Hurricane Irma, the second major storm to impact the U.S. in as many weeks. “What we begin to do is notify our customers and move our teams into place. We already have claims teams that are on the ground. So you just get ready. What you try to do is notify our customers to get ready and pay attention to those evacuation notices,” Evan added.