Diverging from strategies of some competitors, Markel Corp. established a big reserve for a chunk of its potential COVID-19 exposure for the entire year—putting up $325 million for direct potential losses.
The holding company for specialty insurance and reinsurance, ILS and venture businesses, announced the insurance loss reserve Wednesday, mainly for incurred-but-not-reported claims related to COVID-19 on UK business interruption and worldwide event cancellation coverages. The underwriting charge and investment losses of $1.7 billion contributed to a bottom-line net loss of $1.4 billion for the quarter, compared to $576 million of profit recorded to first-quarter 2019.
