As the likely toll of Hurricane Charley on the bottom line of Bermuda?s reinsurers? operations continues to be assessed it appears that AXIS Capital will be among those hardest hit.

The company has announced that it expects the estimated net after-tax impact relating to its exposure to Hurricane Charley to be between $60-$80 million.

John Charman, AXIS Capital?s president and CEO, said: ?Our estimate is based upon the output of industry models, a review of in-force contracts and preliminary indications from clients and brokers.?

Mr. Charman added that the estimate stems from the company?s direct insurance business and their reinsurance portfolio, with the latter primarily incurred in their global reinsurance segment.

?At this time, the majority of our estimate for this segment is attributable to catastrophe treaties, which we would expect for an event with the characteristics of Hurricane Charley,? he said.

IPC Re - which was one of the companies set up in Bermuda in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 to fill the subsequent shortage of property/casualty capacity in the market - has stated that based upon a preliminary analysis of initial information available, they estimate a negative impact on their third quarter results in the range of $35 million to $45 million as a result of Charley.

The company noted that it had received only a small number of actual loss reports from clients since the event.

Accordingly, the estimated range was based on industry loss estimates, output from both industry and proprietary models and a review of contracts potentially affected by the event, meaning that actual losses may differ from the estimate.

PXRE Group Ltd. which writes business out of Barbados as well as Bermuda, the US and Europe, expects to incur a net loss arising from Hurricane Charley of $13 to $18 million, after tax and reinstatement premiums.

Jeffrey L. Radke, president and CEO, said: ?This preliminary estimate is based on extensive modelling, a detailed review of affected contracts and numerous discussions with our clients.

?History, however, has proven that it is difficult to accurately estimate losses in the immediate aftermath of a major catastrophe and we will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates if our current estimates change materially. At this point, we continue to expect to achieve earnings of $4.45 to 4.85 per diluted share for 2004, assuming no material catastrophes occur during the rest of 2004.?

Over the past week Bermuda-based reinsurers have been reporting a wide range of estimated losses and anticipated claims stemming from Hurricane Charley, which caused widespread devastation in Florida earlier this month.

XL Capital expects net claims from the storm to reach about $125 million, and ACE Limited estimates that their total net losses for the entire ACE Group of Companies resulting from the impact of Charley will be approximately $100 million pre-tax, which the company says is in line with previously stated guidance for annual catastrophe-related losses.

Montpelier Re reported the next largest amount of possible losses, stating that the estimated net negative impact on their third quarter results would be in the range of $48 million to $63 million.

Total industry loss estimates currently range from 6 billion to $10 billion.