Members of the Bahamas Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) have been warned about taking on new business in Abaco, Andros and Coral Harbour, due to the recent bush fires that have posed a threat to homes and businesses in those areas.
BIBA President Bruce Ferguson told Guardian Business it is expected that there will be a surge in prospective new clients prompted by concerns over the unusually long dry season, which increases the fire hazard.
“What insurers are concerned about is that people in those areas, seeing the fires that are happening, will take out insurance, and they [insurers] will be forced to pay claims, which normally they wouldn’t be forced to pay, because people wouldn’t normally be taking out insurance if they didn’t see a fire near them. We as insurance brokers have been told by at least one insurer, that at the moment, not to write any new business in certain areas, specifically Andros, Abaco and the Coral Harbour area.”
Denying anyone insurance is completely legal, and insurance companies have the right to set their own terms on who they will issue insurance to and under what terms.
Ferguson continued: “We don’t think rates are going to go up because of these forest fires. We don’t believe that there have been many claims involving the forest fires, because so far, the firefighting authorities have done a very good job with their limited resources in managing to keep them away from any residential or commercial areas.”
Ferguson is also hoping that the rain will come down and things will get back to normal, and has also noted an unusually dry 2024. “It has been a very, very dry year. The rains usually start in April, and we’re almost here at the end of May, and it’s dry as a bone,” Ferguson said.
Insurance companies are also focused on being extra prepared for the upcoming hurricane season, which is also a concern.
“Obviously, if we have another active hurricane season where hurricanes do cause damage in The Bahamas, things can change again. It’s a very fluid industry. As an insurance broker and as president of BIBA, I would recommend clients to take out the insurance now on their houses and on their cars, and make sure that it’s fully comprehensive before the hurricane season starts in less than two weeks,” said Ferguson.
The Atlantic Hurricane season starts on June 1 and goes into November 30. Forecasters are predicting that the Caribbean will have up to 25 named tropical storms and 20 hurricanes, with almost half of them being major hurricanes.
