Analysis

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

Most listed (re)insurance carriers in The Insurance Insider universe traded up last week as our Insider 30 index climbed by 0.82 percent.

A historically strong capital base has positioned the P&C insurance industry to take on additional investment risk to counter the headwinds of low interest rates and a deteriorating underwriting outlook, according to Conning.

Global reinsurers can breathe a sigh of relief at the end of this week as yet another benign North Atlantic hurricane season comes to a close, with the absence of major cat losses lifting underwriting performance in the third quarter.

(Re)insurers operating on the Lloyd's platform operated with lower overheads than their rivals in 2013, according to EY's latest cost and operational benchmarking survey.

(Re)insurers on both sides of the Atlantic are expected to step up their capital management efforts through increased dividend payouts in the coming quarters as the sector addresses swollen balance sheets and dwindling opportunities for profitable growth.

Having delivered double-digit returns in the third quarter of 2013, the operating return on equity (RoE) for our composite of six Bermudian carriers fell by 2.1 percentage points to 8.6 percent in Q3 2014.

Top-line growth accelerated for The Insurance Insider's composite of Bermudian carriers during the third quarter of 2014 despite the competitive marketplace.

Despite softening market conditions, The Insurance Insider's composite of short-tail carriers delivered top-line growth during the third quarter of 2014 as (re)insurers repositioned their books of business.

Absolute return bond funds are currently being marketed to the industry's chief investment officers. But what are they and how can P&C (re)insurers ensure they choose the correct ones? The Insurance Insider investigates...

Despite gaining some reprieve from a relatively benign period for cat losses, the underwriting performance of our group of Bermudian carriers came under pressure in the third quarter as they battled with higher expenses and waning reserve releases.

Following on from our cover story on the research issued by the LMG and BCG, The Insurance Insider takes a deeper look at why the report's findings weren't all doom and gloom for the capital's insurance market...