When The Insurance Insider sat down to set themes for discussion at its first ever PCI roundtable, it eased into autopilot mode.
A benign hurricane season had knocked the wind from the sails of the resurgent property cat market, and the dynamics of excess supply and dwindling demand looked set to dominate in the lead up to the 1 January reinsurance renewals.
At the same time, the low interest environment was causing continued management headaches on the asset side of the balance sheet as firms struggled to try and find a return to satisfy investors.
Toss into the mix the growing role of non-traditional capacity and the ever-present regulatory burden, assemble a cast of caffeine-fuelled senior industry execs in a room for 90 minutes and it's a wrap.
At least it should be... but that would be reckoning without Superstorm Sandy.
For the second time in two years The Insurance Insider managed to host one of its roundtables at the same time as a developing major industry event.
With a number of the participants from the affected area and with loved ones potentially in harm's way, we were extremely grateful that they were able to join us at all.
And, naturally, events took over, as far as the conversation was concerned.
We hope you enjoy the read...
Please click here to download The Insurance Insider PCI Reinsurance Roundtable.