Church, heritage building and rest home insurer Ansvar Insurance, which announced on September 29 that it would stop offering earthquake insurance, has announced a complete withdrawal from New Zealand with the cancellation of all policies from December 31.
See our September 29 article on the limited withdrawal.
Ansvar was hit particularly hard by the Christchurch earthquakes with many churches and heritage buildings collapsing. It said in September it suffered NZ$700 million of losses and that the risk of further earthquakes and the difficulty of getting reinsurance had forced it to stop offering earthquake cover.
Ansvar said on Thursday the prohibitive cost of reinsurance had forced it to withdraw completely.
"We greatly regret having to make this decision," said Ansvar Insurance's NZ CEO Andrew Moon.
"We are very aware that this will be stressful news for our customers - in particular those in Canterbury. We will continue to work closely with them to recover from these earthquakes, to manage their claims, and to find alternative insurance options," he said.
Customers would be notified that existing policies from Ansvar Insurance Ltd (NZ) would be cancelled on 31 December 2011, unless other options were confirmed.
Ansvar said all customers would be offered temporary cover, excluding earthquake and natural disasters cover, from Ansvar Australia.
"This is intended as an interim measure to provide customers with sufficient time to find alternative insurance. The expiry date of the temporary cover will be the same expiry date in customers' current Ansvar New Zealand policies," Ansvar said.
Ansvar said it was in talks with other parties to transfer the policies of most of Ansvar customers. "If successfully completed, those customers' policies can continue - without cancellation - and they will have an option for on-going cover," it said.
However, it said this option may not be available to those customers living in the Red Zone in Greater Christchurch.
Any transfer proposal would be subject to Reserve Bank approval.
Ansvar said the total final cost of claims remained unknown and would take some time to assess.
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