March 2017/3

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

Signs that hardening conditions in segments of the "wheels" market are spreading to the reinsurance sector might be seen as an early indicator of change in the broader US casualty treaty market.

The election victory last week of the Netherlands' centre-right VVD Party over the anti-EU Party for Freedom has removed a cloud of uncertainty over the country's future within the bloc.

Insurance spreads on new cat bond deals this year have dropped by 12 percent on average during the marketing process, as insurance-linked securities sponsors pressed hard to take advantage of a softening market.

The Insurance Insider's main index of P&C (re)insurers - The Insider 50 - rose by 74 basis points last week to reach 1,052.2 points, recovering half of the ground lost the week before.

The global reinsurers reported narrowing underwriting margins at their P&C reinsurance operations in the final quarter of 2016, as loss ratios were pushed up by above-median catastrophe losses across the board.

Global reinsurers posted slower gross written premium (GWP) growth in their P&C reinsurance divisions in the fourth quarter, as attractive new business became increasingly scarce in the soft market cycle.

The incoming EU General Data Protection Regulation could have major implications for UK carriers planning to leave key functions in the UK post-Brexit.

AmTrust has again found itself in the crosshairs of the plaintiff bar after an accounting error forced it to postpone the release of its full results filing for 2016 and restate its results for the past three years

Underwriting will not become redundant as a result of artificial intelligence (AI), but technology will change the nature of underwriting, according to TigerRisk's global head of analytics and technology Jayant Khadilkar.

XL Innovate partner Martha Notaras has said that the dissonance between tech experiences "at home" and during the workday within the industry will help to boost innovation in (re)insurance.

Insurers need to improve the transparency of their product and reduce costs if they are to compete with newcomers, Embroker CEO Matt Miller warned a gathering of industry leaders last week.

Much of the talk around InsurTech seems to fall into two distinct categories.

InsurTech firms are targeting distribution in their first wave of disruption, and the polite, gentlemanly nature of their entry into insurance is unlikely to last long, speakers warned at The Insurance Insider's inaugural InsiderTech event.

Property direct and facultative (D&F) rates appear to be bottoming out at the 1 April renewals, as carriers reach a point where they cannot afford to concede further reductions.

Outgoing CEO Peter Hancock will receive a lump sum of more than $14.5mn upon leaving AIG, in addition to his base salary and potential bonuses for 2017.

Hard market pockets are emerging in the US trucking and transportation reinsurance market as deteriorating underlying results lead treaty underwriters to take a tougher stance on new and renewal business, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Heritage Insurance Holdings has expressed a strong appetite for further M&A but indicated that smaller Floridian carriers, widely identified as ripe for consolidation, will not be on its hit list.

The number of Florida insurers looking to lower their use of reinsurance from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) has dropped notably in the run-up to this year's 1 June renewal.

Florida's smaller homeowners' carriers have averted the immediate threat to their critical A-range ratings.

Demotech's reprieve of the thinly capitalised Florida homeowners' sector may only be temporary, as the rating agency warned that without "meaningful improvement" in the assignment of benefits (AOB) situation, carriers in the state will likely face future downgrades.

Japanese mutual insurer Zenkyoren will secure only a marginal improvement on terms for its 2017/18 cat placement, as the world's biggest buyer prioritised an increase in the limit it purchased to almost $14bn.

Sometimes being so embedded in our industry can be a disadvantage for The Insurance Insider.

Rates on most Japanese property catastrophe excess-of-loss (XoL) treaties look set to slide by around 5 percent when they renew on 1 April, as reinsurers continue to offer concessions to buyers to defend their renewal books.