Analysis

Lloyd's came under top-line pressure last year as gross premiums written by the market dipped by 1.3 percent to £25.3bn.

Lloyd's delivered a strong set of 2014 results with another sub-90 percent underwriting performance, however growing industry pressures began to take their toll on the market's individual syndicates.

Share price data on The Insurance Insider's universe of P&C (re)insurers

The surge of reinsurance M&A activity may actually increase competition and extend underwriters' soft market woes, Willis Re has warned.

Aon Benfield published a positive message for reinsurers last week, predicting that demand for their product is expected to increase at the key mid-year renewals.

Property cat underwriters are not alone in feeling the relentless pressure of competition and thinning margins, with their specialty colleagues also suffering soft market pain.

There was no evidence of any easing in downward pressure on property reinsurance at the 1 April renewals, according to Willis Re.

Reinsurance has been getting a very bad press recently. Rates are declining quickly. Terms and conditions are broadening. The late 1990s is being routinely invoked.

Montpelier Re - cat reinsurer, third-party fund manager and Lloyd's minnow - is not the acquisition that Endurance CEO John Charman wanted

European insurers must invest outside the Eurozone if they want to obtain better returns, according to Amundi's head of global aggregate Myles Bradshaw.

The Insurance Insider's class-by-class breakdown of Lloyd's 2014 annual results

Lloyd's profits were virtually flat in 2014 at £3.2bn as benign cat losses, ongoing reserve releases and improved investment returns helped to strengthen the Corporation's bottom line.