Gross written premiums for our group of US specialty insurers increased by 12.6 percent to $6.0bn in the fourth quarter, the strongest quarterly growth rate in the past four years.
Underlying results at Bermuda-based (re)insurers worsened in the fourth quarter of 2017, as the group's accident-year ex-cat loss ratio deteriorated year on year.
Although Q4 was another messy and loss-hit quarter for Bermudian carriers, when looking at the group's results it is perhaps more important to step back and observe the full-year and longer-term trends
P&C (re)insurance stocks moved in line with wider market indices during the equity sell-off over the past fortnight, despite the fact non-life names are often viewed as safe-haven investments that protect against market volatility.
In considering a $10bn investment in Swiss Re, acquisitive Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is looking to buy into the only European reinsurer which is trading below book value.
Underlying loss ratios in the fourth quarter increased at all but one of the P&C (re)insurers in our study, highlighting the prevalent trend of loss-cost inflation running ahead of earned rate.
