AM BestTV at the APCIA Conference: Expect Moderate Reinsurance Rate Increases at Jan. 1 Renewals, Say Attendees

Business Wire

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- In this ^AMBestTV episode, at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) conference, in Boston, MA, attendees said primary insurers with more risk and higher losses might see higher reinsurance rates on Jan. 1, 2020, while the overall market might expect to see moderate increases. Click on http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=apcia21019 to view the entire program.

“There will be continuing moderate rate increases, as well as downward pressure on ceding commissions,” said M. Steven Levy, president and chief executive officer, reinsurance division, Munich Reinsurance America, Inc. “These things have been continuous over the last year.”

Mohit Pande, managing director, head of property and underwriting, United States and Canada, Swiss Re, said he believes that the rate improvements only have been limited to loss-affected geographies and underperforming businesses, and were “below expectations.” As a result, he said that starting Jan. 1, “it’s quite important that the rate environment improve to achieve sustainable ROEs.”

Lara Mowery, senior vice president, Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, said she expects reinsurance underwriters will talk more with their clients, especially in more strained areas, how they intend to mitigate their losses. “For example, take the Florida renewals, which certainly people were talking about leading into June 2019, we saw an incredibly wide range of outcomes for a very homogeneous set of clients, but there are a lot of differentiators within that client group that underwriters are now digging into and are willing to take into account in the underwriting process.”

For full video coverage of the APCIA conference, including exclusive executive interviews, visit http://www.ambest.tv/apcia19.

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^AMBestTV covers exclusive AM Best and insurance industry information and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the insurance, reinsurance and related sectors daily. Sign up for alerts of episodes at http://www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html. View ^AMBestTV episodes at http://www.ambest.tv.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency and information provider with an exclusive focus on the insurance industry. Visit www.ambest.com for more information.