Issues reshaping the P&C (re)insurance industry - and often rewriting the earnings outlook - came under close scrutiny yesterday during our Insider US event in New York.
Carriers in the lender-placed insurance market, a niche segment with more than its share of penalties and scandal, may find themselves facing a new regulation later this year.
Investors swarmed to buy White Mountains shares today, pushing the price up more than 6.4 percent to finish at $857.88 after the company said it would spend up to $437.5mn to repurchase common stock.
Low catastrophe losses and an improving rate environment should bolster P&C (re)insurers' Q1 earnings, analysts said in recent sector previews, while share prices continue to be buoyed by M&A activity.
Selective Insurance Group recorded $26mn in net pre-tax catastrophe losses in the first quarter, mainly from an early January blizzard that hit the US Northeast and several Nor’easters that struck the region last month.
Surety carriers’ shares dropped today after MGIC Investment Corporation said it planned a sharp cut in rates on its private mortgage insurance (PMI) products.
