2010 Special Report: Southeast Asia Life & Non-Life – Market Review. Southeast Asia May Reward Shrewd Investors, Punish the Careless: Southeast Asia is seen as an exciting and rapidly developing insurance market. A.M. Best believes the insurance markets in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam will continue to grow. While each market in this region has unique opportunities, there are also challenges that require investors to approach them with care.
Date: 2/22/2010 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 12
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2010 Special Report: U.S. Property/Casualty – 2009 Rating Trend Review. Upgrades, Downgrades Moved at a Similar Pace in 2009: A rebound in financial markets and a decline in underwriting losses in 2009 contributed to the U.S. property/casualty industry posting much stronger financial results compared with 2008. Fewer catastrophes losses, better investment results and some year-over-year improvement in the mortgage and financial guaranty business lines led to a decline in the industry’s combined ratio.
Date: 2/22/2010 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 12
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2010 Special Report: U.S. Life/Annuity & Health – 2009 Rating Trend Review. Weakening Performance Deepens Trough of Rating Downgrades: Rating actions in 2009 were overwhelmingly negative for the life/health industry, with 69 total downgrades versus nine upgrades based upon rating units. As in past years, the life/annuity sector had far worse experience than the health sector in terms of rating activity. Due to economic uncertainties, A.M. Best is maintaining its negative rating outlook on the life/annuity and health insurance sectors.
Date: 2/15/2010 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 12
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2010 Special Report: U.S. Property/Casualty – Review & Preview. U.S. P/C Industry’s Profits Rebound; Challenges to Persist: The U.S. property/casualty industry’s operating results recovered in 2009 from a catastrophe-riddled 2008, driven by improved underwriting results and the continued recovery in the financial markets. A.M. Best expects the industry’s net income after taxes to improve to $30.6 billion
for 2009, up almost tenfold from the $3.8 billion reported in 2008.
Date: 2/8/2010 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 36
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2010 Special Report: U.S. Health – Review & Preview. Weak Economy, Higher Costs, Enrollment Declines Hurt Results: Health insurers’ results in 2009 were impacted by rising unemployment, an uptick in utilization, pricing pressures from employer groups and the H1N1 virus. A final health care reform bill was not passed in 2009, though the Obama administration and congressional leaders may yet opt for a scaled down reform package that could lead to new financial and regulatory challenges in 2010.
Date: 2/8/2010 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 20
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2010 Special Report: U.S. Life/Annuity – Review & Preview. Life Insurers Take Stock and Lay Groundwork for Recovery: The life insurance industry so far has survived the financial crisis intact generally healthier than its financial services peers. The industry’s asset side and capital strength was most notably affected. While capital measures have stabilized, A.M. Best believes challenges remain that are driven by macroeconomic issues.
Date: 2/8/2010 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 32
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2010 Special Report: European Banking -– Issue Review. European Banks Juggle Funding & Liquidity Needs: European Banks face significant challenges in managing funding and liquidity, which are at least as important as the amount and quality of capital in positioning the industry to meet future financial crises. Banks are vying for finite sources of funding amid the current recession, and costs are higher, putting pressure on profitablity even as loan losses are mounting.
Date: 1/11/2010 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 12
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2010 Special Report: U.S. Life/Health – Investments Financial Review. Mixed Signals: Has the Economy Begun Its Recovery?: A.M. Best concurs with the International Monetary Fund’s recent findings that life insurers are threatened by losses on commercial mortgages, but more significantly by the risk of a prolonged economic slump that would raise the cost of fulfilling guarantees on certain products.
Date: 1/11/2010 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 12
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2009 Special Report: U.S. Property/Casualty – Investments Trend Review. Changes in Investment Climate Turn Focus to Underwriting: This report touches on the reasons behind the property/casualty industry’s generally conservative nature, including examining trends in asset allocation. The report explores the key drivers behind the industry’s operating earnings over time and how underwriting profitability must improve to compensate for declining investment yields.
Date: 12/28/2009 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 8
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2009 Special Report: Bermuda – Financial Review. Economic and Market Concerns Overshadow Strong 2009 Results: A.M. Best has reviewed the financial results of the Bermuda (re)insurance market and believes that although companies are strongly capitalized, management teams will face challenges during the current phase of the insurance cycle.
Date: 12/14/2009 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 12
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2009 Special Report: U.S. Life Reinsurance – 2008 Market Review. Life Reinsurers Avoid Worst Effects of Financial Markets’ Meltdown:
A.M. Best’s stable rating outlook for the U.S. life reinsurance market reflects reinsurers’ proven ability to manage effectively through the current financial crisis.
Date: 11/23/2009 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 12
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2009 Special Report: Earthquake – Catastrophe Review. New Hazard Maps, Model Updates Could Shift Views on Quake Risk: Seismic hazard maps by the U.S. Geological Survey are changing the perception of earthquake risk in the United States which could affect how insurers manage, underwrite and price U.S. earthquake risk.
Date: 11/23/2009 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 24
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2009 Special Report: U.S. Property/Casualty – Capitalization Trend Review. A.M. Best Study: P/C Industry’s Risk-Adjusted Capital Drops in ‘08: A.M. Best’s recent four-year study of risk-adjusted capitalization found that the U.S. property/casualty industry experienced a 17 percentage point decline in this measure in 2008. The study evaluated risk-adjusted capitalization trends for major market segments: commercial, personal and reinsurance.
Date: 11/2/2009 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 12
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2009 Special Report: U.S. Property/Casualty: 6-Month Financial Review. U.S. Property/Casualty Industry Results Mixed in First-Half 2009: The U.S. property/casualty industry’s net income tumbled 51.3% to $7.8 billion in the first half of 2009, driven by lower investment gains and an underwriting loss. Investment results continued to place pressure on the industry’s operating performance. The industry reported a combined ratio of 100.3 despite challenging market conditions.
Date: 10/5/2009 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 12
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2009 Special Report: U.K. Life – Review & Preview. Thawing Markets Reducing Pressure on U.K. Life Insurers: A.M. Best considers the U.K. life insurance industry’s current risk-based capitalization to be stable, having come through the worst part of the economic decline and market turbulence reduced, but not significantly weakened. By the first half of 2009, there were some signs of recovery, which mirror improvements seen in investment markets.
Date: 9/28/2009 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 8
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2009 Special Report: European Life & Non-Life – 2009 Review & Preview. Europe’s Insurers Challenged by Financial Crisis and Competition: While Western Europe’s non-life insurers were battered in 2008, the sector has demonstrated some resilience, partly due to its strong financial position going into the crisis. Insurers with life exposure are battling to repair balance sheets and boost capitalization levels in the aftermath of one of the worst years ever in the major markets.
Date: 9/28/2009 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 28
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2009 Special Report: European Life & Non-Life – Financial Review. European Insurers Employ Derisking and Capital Deployment Initiatives to Improve Their Financial Strength:
European insurers reported varying first-half 2009 financial results. Some of the major groups still posted losses for the half year and recorded further erosion in their shareholders equity base.
Date: 9/21/2009 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 8
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2009 Special Report: Global Reinsurance – Market Review. Reinsurers Stay Afloat in Sinking Economy: A.M. Best is maintaining a stable outlook in 2009 for the global reinsurance sector, which implies that the majority of 2009 reinsurer rating actions are likely to be affirmations, with only a modest number of anticipated rating or outlook changes.
Date: 8/24/2009 Source: Special Reports (PDF) Pages: 12
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2009 Statistical Study: U.S. Group Life – 2008 Issued: This statistical study presents U.S. life/health writers ranked by 2008 group life business issued.
Date: 7/13/2009 Source: Statistical Studies (PDF) Pages: 4
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2009 Statistical Study: U.S. Total Life – 2008 Issued: This statistical study presents U.S. life/health writers ranked by 2008 total life business issued.
Date: 7/13/2009 Source: Statistical Studies (PDF) Pages: 4
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