Lloyd's puts Thai flood bill at £1.4bn

Lloyd's of London, the specialist insurance market, says the claims it faces from the devastating floods in Thailand will amount to $2.2bn, or £1.4bn. This compares to an industry wide loss of $15-20bn.

Lloyds admits the figure may vary as more claims come in but maintains the floods will not "give rise to any material claims on the central fund or to any material change in the overall level of capitalisation of the market."

The Chief Executive, Richard Ward, emphasised that the Lloyd's market "is as well capitalised as it has ever been. While claims from Thailand could still evolve over time, paying these claims is within the normal course of business for Lloyd's."

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Today's update makes the point that loss information after a major flood can take longer to filter through than for other events, particularly because of the knock on impact of business interruption.

The scale of the damage also means loss adjustors will be thinly stretched, further dragging out the claims process.

BS