Intelligent Insurer analyses the January renewals, finding little sign of a hardening market.
The 2011 January renewals season proved to be a disappointing start to the year for the reinsurance industry, with brokers reporting a continued softening of between 5 to 10 percent across the majority of lines.
There had been hope that 2011 would herald a turn in the market. Although the industry absorbed losses from some big events such as Windstorm Xynthia, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig loss and the Chile earthquake in 2010, the second half of the year had been relatively uneventful, with low insured catastrophe losses.
These subdued losses combined with unrealised investment gains led to record levels of capital in the industry, according to Guy Carpenter’s report Points of Inflection - Positioning for Change in a Challenging Market. This, in turn, drove reinsurance pricing lower at the renewals.
1/1 renewals, Guy Carpenter, Aon Benfield, Willis, Miller
