Swiss reinsurance group Swiss Re said today that yesterday's terrorist attacks in the US would cost the company about the same amount as the damage from storms that ravaged Europe in December 1999.
The storms, which were named Lothar and Martin, cost the company 1.2 billion Swiss francs (800 million euros, $720 million).
Swiss Re said in statement that the expected cost was at this point a 'first rough estimate.' The company, which is the second-biggest reinsurance company in the world, said that its financial solidity is not shaken after the catastrophe in the US which could cause the group its highest-ever damage costs.
Meanwhile, the insurance sector has the 'will, the capacity and all the experience to cope with damage and compensation needs' after the attacks in the US, the president of an annual insurance and reinsurance conference, Jean-Phillipe Thierry, said in Monte Carlo today.
Speaking at the conference yesterday, the president of the French Federation of Insurance Companies, Denis Kessler, had said the cost of the assault on the World Trade Center alone was several billion dollars.
