Fitch Ratings has said that while it expects Hurricane Rita to represent a material loss to the insurance industry and create further strain on insurers' claims-adjusting resources, it does not expect any significant insurer insolvencies as a result of the storm.
Fitch also said that it does not expect to change a large number of insurance company ratings as a result of Hurricane Rita losses.
In a statement, Fitch said that if insured losses from hurricanes this year come in at the high end of the range of estimates, the 2005 hurricane season has already cost insurers as much as $70bn, representing around 17.5% of the US insurance industry's statutory surplus, or approximately two full years of statutory earnings.