[Alpha Biz= Kim Sangjin] According to the insurance industry today, DB Insurance has incurred losses from the recent wildfire in Los Angeles, with the company estimating that the damage could range from 500 billion to 600 billion KRW. DB Insurance holds properties in the areas affected by the fire, including three properties in the Palisades area and 34 in the Eaton area.

A company representative mentioned, "Although the LA wildfire is still ongoing, making precise loss estimation difficult, there are 34 residential fire claims among the properties we hold in the affected regions." The representative added that due to DB Insurance’s guidelines on property acquisition, which exclude high-value homes and limit the number of properties acquired in fire-affected areas, the estimated loss falls within the 500-600 billion KRW range.

The representative further explained that despite the significant scale of overall damage caused by the LA wildfire, DB Insurance's targeted acquisition guidelines and accumulated risk management practices limit the direct impact. The company noted that its projected losses are significantly lower than the losses from the Hawaii incident in 2023.

In response to the disaster, DB Insurance plans to quickly assess the exact damage and expedite insurance payouts to assist the local community, including Korean residents, in recovering from the damage.

Earlier, Hanwha Securities had issued a report estimating DB Insurance's losses from the LA wildfire at slightly over 1 trillion KRW, leading them to revise their earnings forecast downward by 5%. Consequently, the target stock price for DB Insurance was also reduced by 5%. On the same day, DB Insurance’s stock closed 8.12% lower in the Korean stock market.

Additionally, DB Insurance had previously reported a loss of around 1.8 trillion KRW due to claims and restoration costs from a typhoon in Guam in May of the same year.

 

 

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