Reinsurance News
Fitch Ratings news
News featuring rating agency Fitch Ratings, including the latest reports, rating actions and analysis from the company, as well as news on Fitch’s analysis of the reinsurance sector.
Floridian re/insurers at risk of “notable financial strain” from Irma: Fitch
9th September 2017
As hurricane Irma maintains its track towards the state of Florida, U.S., Fitch Ratings has warned of the potential impact the storm could have on the Florida insurance and reinsurance market. Hurricane Irma is on track to hit Florida on Sunday morning, September 10th, 2017, potentially as a Category 4 ... Read the full article
Reinsurance pricing to deteriorate throughout 2018, warns Fitch
6th September 2017
Pricing in the global reinsurance sector will continue declining throughout 2018 as competition from alternative sources of reinsurance capacity intensifies and margins across the sector deteriorate further, according to analysis by Fitch Ratings. The current low-interest rate environment is expected to remain, dampening returns on the investment side of the balance ... Read the full article
NAIC’s new security model to improve U.S. insurance sector’s cyber risk management: Fitch
4th September 2017
Fitch Ratings expects the National Association of Insurance Commissioner's (NAIC) recently approved Insurance Data Security Model Law to drive more rigorous cyber risk management in the U.S. insurance sector, but does warn of the potential for increased compliance costs. The NAIC has sought to establish industry standards for data security that will ... Read the full article
Harvey insured loss within insurers’ retentions but could erode NFIP’s reinsurance program: Fitch
31st August 2017
Fitch Ratings has said that hurricane Harvey is unlikely to result in any ratings downgrades of property/casualty re/insurers as the storm is expected to be an earnings event, and while the insured loss is likely to fall within insurers' retentions, the storm could wipe out the National Flood Insurance Program's ... Read the full article
European reinsurers scrape by with help of low CAT losses
23rd August 2017
The big four European reinsurers' profitability has been kept afloat by a first half of 2017 that's seen catastrophe loss levels at well below the ten-year average, but Fitch ratings warned that under normal circumstances Munich Re and Hannover Re would have made losses. On a global scale, 2017 has been ... Read the full article
Fitch maintains negative reinsurance outlook, warns of further price deterioration
22nd August 2017
Fitch Ratings has maintained its negative outlook for the reinsurance sector as mid-year 2017 results show continued pressure on pricing and earnings. Ample capacity and intense competition remains an issue for the global reinsurance sector, and Fitch expects pricing to weaken further in the months ahead. Despite the abundance of capacity and ... Read the full article
Asia hit with lion’s share of global economic losses but regional re/insurance market grows
14th August 2017
Asia has often bourne the brunt of global economic losses from catastrophes, at $US74 billion the region was hit with 47% of global economic losses last year, only 16% of which was insured - but governments are increasingly counteracting these losses by introducing schemes and regulations to up the impetus ... Read the full article
Fitch expects Asian reinsurers to increase use of debt capital
8th August 2017
Fitch Ratings expects the Asian bond market to gain traction in the near to medium term as the persistent low-interest rate environment fuels reinsurers in the region to look at debt capital over equity funding. The majority of reinsurance companies across Asia are equity-funded, but in a low-interest rate environment, which ... Read the full article
Fitch predicts continued premium rate declines in Asia as reinsurance competition intensifies
8th August 2017
Rating Agency Fitch has predicted a continued trend of softening reinsurance premium rates for the remainder of 2017 in Asia, as competition intensifies with both established reinsurers expanding operations in the region and increasing numbers of start-ups joining the playing field. Capital abundance has brought further declines to Asia's reinsurance premium ... Read the full article
Asian re/insurance regulators continue to walk the protectionist tightrope
7th August 2017
Asian re/insurance regulators have continued the trend towards localisation and protectionism to stop capital outflow from insurance premium cedance, with this year seeing India join the ranks of countries introducing further “order of preference” rules. These rules require insurers to give local reinsurers and branches of onshore foreign insurers first 'right ... Read the full article
M&A in Asia driven by incentives for foreign diversification & local capacity growth
4th August 2017
Soft market conditions provide the backdrop for reinsurance industry Merger & Acquisitions (M&As) throughout Asia, although the highly varied local industry dynamics and levels of market maturity create a mixed bag of motives, with some reinsurers driven to acquire by foreign diversification needs while others merge to grow their own ... Read the full article
Re/insurance favourable reserve development to decline: Fitch
27th July 2017
Fitch Ratings expects Bermuda insurance and reinsurance market favourable reserve development to decline over the next couple of years, warning that any decrease could be accelerated by the speed and extent at which the reinsurance sector's favourable reserve development reduces. Recent analysis by global financial services rating agency, Fitch Ratings, explores the ... Read the full article
Bermudian re/insurers’ shift to primary business yet to pay off
20th July 2017
Underwriting income from reinsurance business over the last decade has been far more significant for Bermudian re/insurers than underwriting income from primary business, but this hasn't stopped firms' continued transition to a more insurance focused business mix, according to Fitch Ratings. Global financial services rating agency, Fitch Ratings, has examined the ... Read the full article
Indonesian reinsurers’ competitiveness improves with OJK capacity optimisation policy: Fitch
14th July 2017
Indonesia's reinsurance industry premiums have increased in the past few years with a three-year average growth of 33%, after the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) optimised local capacity, enabling the sector to retain more risk domestically. OJK requires all reinsurers to purchase enough protection to cover a 250-year return period; most of ... Read the full article
Fitch turns Negative on Lloyd’s as underwriting deteriorates
29th June 2017
In response to the continued deterioration in underwriting performance and increasing catastrophe risk exposure, Fitch Ratings (Fitch) has revised the Lloyd's of London's and Lloyd's Insurance Company (China) Ltd's outlook to Negative from Stable. At the same time international financial services rating agency, Fitch, has also affirmed the Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) Ratings at ... Read the full article
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