Flood damage adds to insurance sector woes

The insurance industry escaped the worst of the floods that hit Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic last month but the impact of the deluge simply adds another negative to an already struggling sector. Raj Shant, head of European equities at Newton, says the hits the insurance companies took as a result of the flooding were relatively light. 'A lot of people could not afford insurance and so didn't have any, especially in Eastern Europe, and a lot of those affected by the flooding who did have insurance were not covered for flood damage,' he says. According to Shant, Allianc...