July 2014/4

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

With the Q2 reporting season well underway, some of the largest P&C stock movements last week were naturally performance driven.

26Broking giant Aon Ltd has revealed that it is being sued for $340mn for alleged intentional misrepresentation and concealment when placing a policy for defence manufacturer Northrop Grumman.

(Re)insurers headquartered in the Netherlands could be impacted by a cap on bonuses and severance pay from as early as 1 January 2015.

A former Marsh claims manager has filed a suit accusing the global broker of breaching the District of Columbia Human Rights Act after she was allegedly subjected to bullying.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is appealing against the Columbia District Court's decision to order a full refund of tax paid by Validus Re on retrocession cover.23

Travelers must pay over $500mn to victims of asbestos-related diseases after losing a US federal appeals court hearing to consider a settlement first approved by a judge in 2004.

If further evidence was required of it being a buyers' reinsurance market, US insurance heavyweight Travelers last week disclosed that it had achieved lower rates-on-line for both its general catastrophe treaty and Northeast-only programme at the 1 July renewals.

The reaction of the stock market to some of the first batch of reporting companies in the US and Bermuda P&C industry has led one industry analyst to lower his expectations for the sector.

Higher than expected US weather losses from cat and non-cat events have been a key factor behind some of the larger P&C carriers missing Wall Street earnings forecasts.

With further evidence of a slowdown in US commercial insurance rate rises in Q2, management of early reporting carriers have sought to show rate movements in a broader context following multiple quarters of compounding price increases.

Lancashire expects to have an additional $160mn of limit to deploy through its Kinesis sidecar in the 1 January 2015 renewals compared to the amount it had in January 2014, the firm said after its Q2 results were released last week.