State of the Insurance Market 2011, sponsored by Zurich
On Thursday, April 14, 2011, Kurt Hines, Zurich's Head of Geographic Expansion; Greg Coda, President of the National Broker Clients division of Munich Re America; Brian Elowe, Managing Director, Marsh's Global Risk Management Division; and Advisen's Dave Bradford examined the US P&C market, mired in the soft phase of the pricing cycle. This free one-hour Webinar was sponsored by Zurich.
If you missed this webinar, click below to download the webinar audio.
State of the Insurance Market 2011 Report
Insurance buyers are likely to enjoy continued favorable pricing conditions through 2011, but the convergence of a number of factors suggests that a firmer market may be on the horizon. While first quarter global catastrophe losses alone are not likely to move the market, a stressed reinsurance market combined with increasingly inadequate rate levels, anemic investment returns, little or no reserve redundancy to absorb adverse developments, and growing demand for insurance capacity as the economy improves will combine to put upward pressure on rates.
Private insurer property and marine losses from the Queensland floods, the Christchurch earthquake and the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami may exceed $30 billion. Outside the affected areas, however, these losses are unlikely to have an impact on global insurance or reinsurance prices. The both the insurance and reinsurance industries are overcapitalized, and these losses are not deep enough to absorb much, if any, of the excess capacity. Nonetheless, a period of firmer pricing may be on the horizon. The pace at which prices are falling already is stabilizing in a number of lines of business. By 2012, the market may bottom out, and premiums may start inching upward in distressed lines such as workers compensation.
Advisen's new analysis of the commercial lines insurance market, "Update on the Insurance Market in 2011," sponsored by Zurich, examines the forces at work on the market, and offers fresh insights into pricing and capacity issues for 2011 renewals. Additionally, Advisen and Zurich have assembled a panel of insurance and reinsurance experts to offer their unique and valuable insights into these issues during a free webinar on April 14 at 11:00 a.m. EST.
