2012 Best’s Briefing: Global Reinsurance – Hedge Fund Sponsored Non-Life Reinsurers Build Momentum: Hedge funds are showing renewed interest in the reinsurance business as they seek to diversify their investment strategies and deploy accumulated capital. The catastrophic losses experienced by the reinsurance industry in 2011 have piqued the hedge funds’ interest.
Date: February 9, 2012
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2012 Special Report: India Non-Life & Life – Market Review. Growth Anticipated for Indian Insurers, but Frustrations Remain: Since the Indian insurance market was liberalized in 2000, total insurance premiums have increased strongly, driven primarily by the life market. Continued economic growth and heightened demand for health insurance are resulting in foreign insurers and reinsurers seeking a greater presence.
Date: January 16, 2012
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2012 Best’s Briefing: Global Reinsurance 2012 Outlook. Global Reinsurance Ratings Outlook Remains Stable as Industry Weathers Catastrophes, Pricing Begins to Turn: Despite numerous challenges, A.M. Best’s rating outlook on the global reinsurance segment is being held at stable, supported by continued strong risk-adjusted capitalization, prudent risk management practices and an improving pricing environment across a broadening spectrum of business classes.
Date: January 9, 2012
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2011 Special Report: U.S. Property/Casualty – 9-Month Financial Review. U.S. P/C Net Income Plummets on Catastrophe Losses; NPW Increases: The U.S. property/casualty industry’s net income plunged to $12.8 billion for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2011, as higher catastrophe-related losses continued to take their toll on insurers’ bottom line and significantly deteriorated the industry’s underwriting performance.
Date: December 22, 2011
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2011 Special Report: Bermuda – Market Review. Resilient Bermuda Market Faces Persistent Challenges: Despite the impacts of devastating catastrophe losses in 2011, a prolonged soft market and low investment returns, the Bermuda insurance market has managed to preserve its capital and retrench for what is shaping up to be a difficult yet promising renewal season.
Date: December 7, 2011
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2011 Special Report: Middle East and North Africa – Country Risk Issue Review: The Arab Spring of 2011 has altered insurers’ prospects throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Political unrest can have direct effects on the insurance industry, including premium flows and a higher incidence of claims.
Date: November 28, 2011
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2011 Best's Briefing: European Insurance. A.M. Best's Additional Stress Testing in Light of European Economic Uncertainty: Most insurers rated by A.M. Best operating within the eurozone currently demonstrate robust balance sheets. However, the ongoing market turbulence within the region and recessionary pressures threaten to undermine this strength.
Date: November 21, 2011
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2011 Special Report: Asia Pacific Non-Life – Review & Preview. Rapid Growth, Stiff Competition Challenge Asia’s Non-Life Insurers:
The Asia-Pacific region is offering large-scale challenges for non-life insurers willing to compete in some of the world’s fastest growing economies. Rising personal wealth and expanding industries are driving growth in the volume of insurance business, but competition and poor loss experience are making it difficult to achieve underwriting profits.
Date: October 31, 2011
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2011 Special Report: European Non-Life – Review & Preview. European Non-Life Sector Approaches Economic, Regulatory Turning Points: The European non-life insurance sector is approaching critical moments, with economic, regulatory and market forces set to severely test individual companies and the industry as a whole. Companies are racing to meet changing and solvency and accounting rules. Soft markets persist, dampening pricing and profitability.
Date: October 10, 2011
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2011 Special Report: U.S. Property/Casualty – U.S. P/C First-Half Net Income Plunges on Cat Losses: The U.S. property/casualty industry’s underwriting and operating performance deteriorated significantly in the first half of 2011, battered by unprecedented catastrophe-related losses which climbed to an estimated $27.0 billion, more than doubling the total reported for the first half of 2010, and already surpassing the year-end 2010 total.
Date: October 3, 2011
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2011 Special Report: U.S. Surplus Lines –Market Review. Performance Slides Due to Mounting Underwriting Losses:
The surplus lines industry suffered an unprecedented fourth year of declining premiums in 2010; the result of the recession’s impact on declining payrolls and competition from standard market insurers. The volatile financial markets and competition from Bermuda-based carriers also remain challenges to the market.
Date: September 26, 2011
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2011 Special Report: Middle East & North Africa – Reinsurance Market Review. Reinsurance Demand is Strong as Primary Market Expands: Demand for reinsurance in Middle Eastern and North Africa countries has grown strongly in recent years, supporting the expansion of the insurance sector. Insurance growth in recent years has been driven by the price of oil, which has funded growth in oil-rich countries, in addition to developments in neighboring countries.
Date: September 26, 2011
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2011 Special Report: U.K. Non-Life – Review & Preview. Corrective Pricing Needed as Reserve Redundancy Diminishes: Profitability for the U.K. non-life insurance market in 2010 was again supported by prior-year reserve releases, helping to offset poor accident-year performance in most lines of business.
Date: September 26, 2011
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2011 Best’s Briefing: European Insurance. European Investment Stress Test Flags Sovereign Debt Risk: Slower growth within Europe’s major economies has increased the possibility of a double-dip recession as well as exacerbated the sovereign debt crisis. As a result, A.M. Best has undertaken a stress test of a representative sample of major European insurers using its proprietary capital model, Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio.
Date: September 9, 2011
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2011 Special Report: Global Reinsurance – Market Review. Reinsurers Are Ready to Move as the Market Begins to Stir: After years of a soft market, weak investment returns, lukewarm investor interest and sluggish consolidation, hopeful signs are emerging for the global reinsurance industry. The bottom line has been squeezed, and capacity has been dampened. Companies are hoping for, but not betting on, a more dramatic improvement in property cat pricing at the January 2012 renewal.
Date: September 5, 2011
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2011 Best's Briefing: U.S. Life/Health & Property/Casualty – U.S. Economy: P/C Sector Steady, Life Industry More Vulnerable: The hard-won agreement between Congress and the Obama administration to increase the U.S. debt ceiling averted a default by the U.S. government, but the deal falls short of erasing all uncertainty as to the credit quality of U.S. sovereign debt.
Date: August 8, 2011
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2011 Best’s Briefing: Global Insurance – Sovereign Debt Pressure Spreads to Insurers’ Balance Sheets: With the credit quality of sovereign debt under pressure, insurance companies are facing increased overall risk on their balance sheets, and A.M. Best Co. has undertaken a review of companies’ exposure to different sovereign debt in Europe and the United States.
Date: July 18, 2011
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2011 Special Report: Takaful – Market Review. Takaful Poised for Growth, But Greater Focus is Required: With takaful operations in the Gulf Cooperation Council and Malaysia growing at a rapid pace and enjoying strong capitalization on a consolidated funds basis, A.M. Best compares the performance of takaful operators to those of conventional insurers.
Date: July 11, 2011
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2011 Best’s Briefing: Global Insurance – London Market Well Placed to Bear Pressure on Performance: This year is set to be tough for insurers and reinsurers competing in the London market. Natural catastrophe losses have already had a material impact on earnings, with many in the market facing a pretax deficit for the first quarter of 2011 and lower shareholders’ funds than at year-end 2010.
Date: May 23, 2011
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2011 Special Report: Solvency II – Captive Issue Review. Solvency II to Transform the EU Captive Market: A.M. Best believes that captives able to obtain secure financial strength rating should not have major difficulties adapting to Solvency II. Companies with strong levels of risk-based capital, robust risk management and governance structures, high levels of integration with a securely rated parent, and effective reporting systems are in a good position to satisfy the demands of the new regime.
Date: May 16, 2011
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