 |
| |
|
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
EVENTS
CENTERS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|
 |
Up in the air Main World Cup insurers begin talks with FIFA
Updated: Thursday October 25, 2001 1:54 PM
FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- Insurer AXA said on Thursday it had launched talks with soccer's governing body FIFA but was still uncertain of restoring cover for the 2002 World Cup after canceling a deal due to higher terror-related risks. "The risks have taken on a dimension that simply didn't exist in the past," said Ursula Roeben, spokeswoman for the Axa group's (AXAF.PA) German division, which is leading the talks. The insurance industry faces its worst losses ever following the suicide plane attacks on U.S. targets in New York and Washington and the American-led military action against targets in Afghanistan. These actions have led some insurers to doubling and tripling premiums, or even canceling coverage altogether in light of the new risks. "We're in new territory here," Roeben told Reuters. "Before deciding on premium hikes, we first have to see whether we can provide coverage at all. "Nobody had ever calculated into the risk that someone would deliberately turn an airplane into a flying bomb and target other people. That's a totally new risk situation and, for that reason, we had to renegotiate." Axa, whose German division leads a consortium of international insurers providing cover for the tournament in South Korea and Japan, cancelled its existing contract with FIFA on October 12 with a month's notice. Axa has said the risk the event would have to be called off had increased significantly since the September 11 attacks and the U.S.-led response in Afghanistan. Roeben said there was no deadline set for the talks and that the parties -- FIFA and Axa Sport and Entertainment GmbH, which has covered major soccer events including the UEFA Cup and rock concerts -- were under no time pressure to reach a deal. The total cost to the world insurance industry of the September 11 attacks has been estimated at $30 billion or more. Axa itself has so far put its exposure to claims related to the attacks at $550 million. FIFA president Sepp Blatter said earlier in October that the contract would have to be renegotiated because the World Cup could not go ahead without cover. While several international sports events have already been cancelled since September 11, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday that nothing short of world war would prevent the Salt Lake City Winter Games from being staged from February 8-24.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
