Flooding in the final month of 2015 will put pressure on the earnings of U.K. property insurers, according to a briefing published by A.M. Best. Initial estimates of combined insured losses from Storm Desmond, which hit the United Kingdom on …
A special report from A.M. Best concludes that “Italy’s insurance market remained buoyant in 2014 and is well-placed to continue to grow in 2015, driven by demand for life products.” Best foresees a “second consecutive year of double-digit expansion in …
Spain’s insurance market has continued to show resilience, with companies focusing on profitability as the country’s economy showed further signs of recovery, according to a new report from A.M. Best, entitled – “Sticking to the Basics Ensures Resilience of the …
The property insurance market in Florida has significantly shifted in market share as Citizens Property Insurance Corp. (Citizens)—the state-run property insurance company—continues to depopulate and move policyholders to the private market, which has increasingly seen the emergence of newly formed, …
The Caribbean general insurance market remains profitable, albeit challenging, for participants, according to an A.M. Best special report titled “Caribbean-based General Insurers: What Lies Ahead?” The report says that the region is susceptible to major storm damage, earthquakes and flooding, …
A.M. Best has released a briefing exploring the recent wave of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the global reinsurance industry and how it reflects on reinsurance companies’ “desire for scale to maintain relevance amid challenging market conditions.” Briefing, titled, …
Heightened geopolitical tensions spilling over from the Russia-Ukraine crisis, high interest and inflation rates, and low commodity prices are placing pressure on Russia’s economy and its insurance industry’s prospective growth, according to an A.M. Best special report. A.M. Best believes …
Stocks for publicly traded reinsurance companies (including the four large European reinsurers) performed well below the overall market through the third quarter of 2014, driven in part by the increased volatility in the overall equity markets and amplified by continued …
A.M. Best said it would be premature to draw negative conclusions from the most recent Solvency II stress tests conducted by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) and does not anticipate any rating implications at this stage. In …
The convergence market has provided an opportunity for entities that act as insurers of last resort to transfer some of their peak exposures to the capital markets, according to a Best’s Special Report titled, “Last Resort Insurers Welcome Relief From …
