Lloyd's assess plane crash costs

Insurance company, Lloyd's of London, are assessing the cost of today's plane crash in New York.

Analysts said it was too early for insurers to begin assessing what their exposure to today’s crash would be, though the Lloyd’s of London insurance market said it was involved in insuring the plane.

The group said: ‘‘Lloyd’s of London confirms that it has some involvement in the insurance of American Airlines, the operator of the Airbus A-300 that crashed.

‘‘However, at this extremely early stage, Lloyd’s is unable to comment further.’’

The size of the impact on the industry will depend on whether the crash was an accident or caused by terrorism.

Since September 11, many insurers have limited the cover they offer for acts of terrorism to the value of the plane and up to £50m of third party cover.

But accident cover includes the cost of the plane and up to £1.5bn in third party liabilities but it is thought unlikely the disaster will reach this level.

Shares in insurers Prudential and Royal & Sun Alliance had both slipped 4% by the close of trading, though neither group had said whether they were exposed to the crash.