A.M. BestTV: U.S. Marine Insurers Sail Into Uncertainty

Business Wire

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- In this ^A.M.BestTV episode, speakers at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Marine Underwriters said that in the long term, emerging markets and evolving technologies will open up new opportunities, but in the short term, macroeconomic challenges remain a drag on the sector. Click on http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=aimu1116 to view the entire program.

The hot topics at this year’s conference are emerging opportunities and economic challenges.

“The marine market is a challenging one that has overcapacity and sluggish economic growth,” said Frank Costa, president, Berkley Offshore. “These factors are limiting the amount of growth opportunities in the market.”

William Berkley, executive chairman, W.R. Berkley Corporation, highlighted the biggest challenge facing the marine insurance market.

“Uncertainty is always the biggest challenge in the business, since it is a long-term business,” said Berkley. “Uncertainty is the key element as to how the market prices its products, and although uncertainty creates problems, it also provides opportunities.”

Other people that appear in this episode:

John Miklus, president, American Institute of Marine Underwriters.

Visit http://www.ambest.tv for full coverage and exclusive interviews with key executives at the conference.

Recent episodes of ^A.M.BestTV include:

A.M. Best's Carter: Impact of Solvency II Came Ahead of Implementation: A.M. Best’s Greg Carter, managing director, analytics, EMEA, said at the IMBE, credit quality has improved for many Western European insurers and has slipped for some Middle Eastern insurers. One benefit of Solvency II regulation has been improvement to companies' enterprise risk management programs, a process that began in anticipation of the regulatory changes: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=carter1116.

A.M. Best's Mistry: Insurers Challenged to Grow: A.M. Best’s Mahesh Mistry, director, analytics, said at the IMBE, credit quality and risk management have improved for many insurers, but today's market of low interest rates and high competition makes it challenging for insurers to grow their business without endangering profitability: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=mistry1116.
A.M. Best's Holzberger: Reinsurance Sector May Have Deeper Issues: A.M. Best's Stefan Holzberger, senior managing director and chief rating officer, said at the IMBE, the relative lack of catastrophes and reserve releases may have been a major driver of recent favorable results for reinsurers: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=holzberger1116.
Competition, Consolidation, Relevancy Shaping Insurance Market: Speakers at A.M. Best's 2016 Insurance Market Briefing - Europe & Methodology Review Seminar (IMBE) outlined a range of market forces driving today's insurance and reinsurance markets in Europe and the Middle East: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=imbe1116.

^A.M.BestTV covers exclusive A.M. Best information and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the (re)insurance industry every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sign up for alerts of episodes at http://www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html. View ^A.M.BestTV episodes at http://www.ambest.tv.

A.M. Best is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.