October 2016/4

Primary carriers' appetite for reinsurance has grown amid accommodating market conditions, as the year-end 2015 and first half 2016 results highlighted cedants' preference for reinsurance over other forms of capital

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

The first week of the third quarter results season saw The Insider 30 group's shares fall 1.3 percent from the previous Friday close, as investors became wary over insurer earnings for the period.

Zurich-based reinsurers' gross written premiums hit CHF40.7bn ($41.1bn) in 2015 following top line growth of 3.6 percent year-on-year, as North America took a greater share of business

The reinsurance industry has a clear expense problem. It already costs too much to deliver the product - and this is a constant refrain of platform speeches from industry luminaries.

US (re)insurers have found themselves in limbo ahead of the major 1 January renewal for German cedants' business, following a rule change by German regulator BaFin.

Homeowners' insurance RoE drops; Everest Re Q3 profit surges; Matthew claims rise to $549mn in Florida; US P&C carriers struggling for underwriting profits; Liberty Mutual temporarily shuts Portland office...

There are signs of a shift in strategy among larger primary carriers toward purchasing reinsurance to protect against earnings volatility in addition to safeguarding their balance sheets

Following up on the hard line taken publicly at this year's Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous, underwriting sources have privately stressed that they are determined to halt the downward slide of the European reinsurance market at 1 January

Deteriorating underwriting conditions across several lines of US casualty insurance business are likely to add further weight to a tougher negotiating stance from reinsurers at 1 January

After threatening a potential knockout punch to Florida's east coast, Hurricane Matthew in the end delivered little more than a glancing blow

Final bids are due this week in the sale of a $560mn book of QBE US legacy business that has been the source of reserve charges and poor performance for the group