Over-cap Canterbury claims add to Tower losses

New Zealand insurer Tower said new Canterbury earthquake claims
received from the state-backed Earthquake Commission (EQC) led it
to increase its loss reserves for the 2010-11 Canterbury
earthquakes in the half-year to 31 March.
The boost to reserves had a net impact on the insurer's
results of NZ$9.8mn ($6.9mn), pushing it into an NZ$8.2mn loss for
the half-year, while reinsurance recoveries rose by NZ$24.5mn in
the period.
The carrier said it had closed almost one third of the 564
claims...