The Week in a Minute, April 30, 2012

Well, 2½ weeks . . . Insurance Information Institute, ISO and PCI pegged the 2011 combined ratio at 108.2, the highest since 2001, hurt by catastrophes and weak results on lines like workers comp. Return on average surplus was 3.5%, down from 6.6% a year earlier. Capacity-challenged Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance plans to issue (via [...]

The Week in a Minute, April 13, 2012

Lots of travel = not much blogging. More signs of a tightening market: Willis marketplace update finds higher rates in North American property and casualty (while noting that $100 of risk in 2007 sells for $70 today – details here); Marsh reports property rates rising worldwide. Worldwide reinsurer capital fell 3% last year, Aon Benfield [...]

The Week in a Minute, April 6, 2012

Rates up 3% last month, according to MarketScout, following increases of 2% in February and 1% in January. And Guy Carpenter said rates rose on reinsurance renewals at April 1, a big renewal date in the Asian markets, so any increases would be exacerbated by the brutal 2011 that region suffered. $1.2B in March cat [...]

The Week in a Minute, March 30, 2012

So March was in like a lion lamb, out like a veal cutlet drizzled in olive oil with a rosemary seasoning: Insurance Insider (via SNL – firewalled) provides the latest in the Whither Rates? soap opera, with details on the renewal of Chubb Insurance’s purchase of cat cover. Chubb’s cover was loss free last year, [...]

The Week in a Minute, March 23, 2012

Stuff I meant to mention earlier: SNL estimates (paywall, sorry)  the industry posted 108.2CR, up from 102.5 last year and the worst since 2001. Pulling out mortgage/financial guaranty doesn’t improve things much: 106.4 vs. 101 last year. Blame the weather. M7.4 earthquake in Mexico; Eqecat estimates losses < $100M. Colorado State’s venerable hurricane forecasters bring [...]

The Week in a Minute, March 16, 2012

Major insurers posted a 103.6CR last year, worse than 2010′s 97.5, Fitch reports. U.S. reinsurers didn’t do so hot, either, with 107 last year vs 95 a year earlier. Solvency II had a tough week. UK’s giant Prudential threatened to leave the EU because the rules would render its non EU business (88% of new [...]

The Week in a Minute, March 9, 2012

Busy – Pinewood Derby season. Commercial rates up 2% in February, MarketScout reports. Fiduciary and Surety coverages were flat; workers comp and property were 3% higher. The feds are selling $6B worth of AIG stock, cutting their stake to a mere 77%. Last year’s big merger battle ends quietly, with Alleghany and Transatlantic finalizing their [...]

The Week in a Minute, March 2, 2012

State Farm profits fell $1B last year, while the mutual’s p/c companies basically broke even. Underwriting losses were $4.5B – $1.3B worse than 2010, thanks to five of the 25 worst cats in the mutual’s history. Two undercover NY cops posed as accident victims to bust up a massive ($275M) medical fraud mill. The coppers [...]

The Week in a Minute, Feb. 24, 2012

Accuweather predicts an above-average tornado season this year, according to the cat bond experts at Artemis. January got off to a rousing start with 95 twisters, more than double the average. The storms are set to infest the South in March, then move northward a month later. Good news for AIG, which earned $19.8B in [...]

The Week in a Minute, Feb. 17, 2012

The Thai floods cost Lloyd’s insurers $2.2B, the third-largest loss in the syndicate’s 324 years. (Katrina’s No. 1, and 9/11 is No. 2.) The Thai government is contemplating covering floods up to $16.2B in a single treaty, which would be some sort of public-private partnership. Penn State puts its tab on the Sandusky scandal at [...]