capital

On the 12th of May 1999 a website was launched in front of an audience of reinsurance and investment executives in Bermuda. The goal, to provide a platform for a reinsurance market niche, facilitating education, information provision and transparency in what was at the time a relatively opaque market.

An analysts report from Numis Securities, which discusses softening property catastrophe reinsurance rates and the impact this is having on London market underwriters, suggests that the influence of capital market capacity and the availability of cheaper insurance-linked securities (ILS) products will end the golden era for property catastrophe margins.

Total global reinsurer capital reached an all time high of $470 billion at 31st December 2010 according to a report from Aon Benfield. That figure of $470 billion was an increase of 17% over the 2009 period. As a result they believe reinsurers are capitalised enough to withstand the Q1 catastrophe losses.

Moody’s, the rating agency, has published a report (available here to subscribers to their service) looking at capital levels in the catastrophe reinsurance market and conclude that there is ample capital entering the market so reinsurers are unlikely to see a let up in competition.