The insurance employers ask the Government for a system to expedite claims in catastrophes such as DANA

The insurance sector employer, Mirenchu ​​del Valle, has proposed to the Government a public-private collaboration system that is activated in adverse climate events such as the DANA that occurred in October 2024, which devastated part of the Valencian Community. The objective of the measure is to institutionalize the response given last year to the Compensation Consortium – dependent on the Ministry of Economy – and the insurance sector through a national system that is automatically activated in situations of high accident rates.

During the opening speech of the ’32nd Meeting of the Insurance Sector’, organized by Deloitte, Mapfre and the newspaper ‘ABC’, Del Valle commented that a few days after the aforementioned catastrophe, the Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business and Unespa signed a protocol so that 38 insurers with a presence in that region would help the CCS to process claims, although the final disbursement would be the responsibility of the aforementioned public body, which is financed with a surcharge included in all policies paid in Spain.

“Insurers have processed some 130,000 claims, leaving room for the Consortium to examine the most complex claims that required special knowledge,” he commented. In this sense, Del Valle has detailed that to date they have received 250,700 requests for compensation, of which they have already managed 245,461 operations, equivalent to 3,840 million, although the cost of compensation can rise to 4,800 million. Of these figures, 112,830 million have been processed by the insurers in charge of the CCS, which have represented 1,258 million of compensations requested.

In percentage, it represents the management of up to 98%, although almost 5,000 requests are pending, which are the most complicated claims and may be the highest cost. Del Valle took advantage of his intervention to warn that these types of weather events are becoming more frequent, as has happened in the last five years. In the case of DANA, he considers that it was the “biggest stress test” that the Consortium has undergone to date.

Reach 100% insured

It so happens that the Valencian Community is one of the regions of Spain that has the highest volume of insured people, with 75% coverage of insured homes. This means that 25% of the affected homes were not covered. “Our challenge is to ensure that all properties are insured and adequately insured. Especially those located in vulnerable areas,” he noted after indicating that Spain is one of the countries with the highest housing insurance rate in Europe.

For comparison, in Italy or Greece it is less than 25%, in Germany it ranges between 50% and 75%, while in France or Spain it exceeds 75%. “We must not lose sight of the fact that there are important regional differences. While in the three Basque provinces, Barcelona or the Community of Madrid, home insurance is practically universal, in places like Cáceres, Orense or the Canary Islands it is 60%,” he clarifies.