Analysis

There was some evidence of additional cover purchased at 1 January as reinsurers reinvested the budget freed up by price softening.

Multiple compression was rife across the P&C (re)insurance industry in 2014 as doubts over the sector's future profitability placed downward pressure on price-to-book (P/B) valuations.

P&C (re)insurance stock performance worsened in 2014 after deteriorating market conditions dampened investor sentiment and appetite for the sector.

A swift integration following the completion of the $4.2bn XL-Catlin deal could present rapid organic growth opportunities, according to Catlin chief executive Stephen Catlin.

Global property cat reinsurance rates continued to soften at the 1 January 2015 renewals as an abundance of capacity led to increased competition in terms of both pricing and terms and conditions.

Global reinsurer capital climbed to a new record level of $575bn at the end of third quarter of 2014, according to the latest estimates from Aon Benfield.

While much attention has been focused on documenting the continued - and entirely expected - decline in cat reinsurance rates at 1 January, perhaps the more troubling trend for reinsurers and their capital providers is the extent to which the malaise has extended into other classes.

Diversification is the only sustainable defence mechanism for the traditional reinsurance market against the "wall" of investment capital, Willis Re International's chairman James Vickers has told The Insurance Insider.

As 2014 draws to a close, investment managers at insurers can look back on a year of steady performance after lower treasury yields boosted the total return of their portfolios, despite widening spreads in the high yield market.

Insured losses from natural catastrophes and man-made events fell significantly in 2014, according to research from Swiss Re's Sigma research unit.

Stamp capacity for the Lloyd's market as a whole is set to fall by 0.8 percent next year, although by numbers alone the amount of syndicates pre-empting outweighed those shrinking or holding their capacity steady.

The expiration of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (Tria) is likely to have a significant impact on the workers' compensation market, with buyers facing a potential capacity crunch if Congress fails to act swiftly on a renewal of the US government terrorism backstop in the New Year.