Reinsurers to ‘Stand Firm’ on 2010 Pricing Prospects

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Reinsurers promised to stand firm on the prices they charge for covering big risks like hurricanes and plane crashes, even as the recession robs their insurance company customers of cash needed to pay for the service.

Global reinsurers gathering for their annual meeting with insurance clients and brokers in this Mediterranean resort acknowledged that the big price increases they predicted for 2009 did not materialize but they put on brave faces for 2010.

World No. 2 reinsurer Swiss Re on Monday said reinsurance prices were still rising overall and that it was well positioned for talks with insurance companies in the coming weeks to renew risk cover contracts that start in January.

“We are observing a broad upward trend in overall reinsurance pricing, although this varies significantly between different lines of business,” Michel Lies, Swiss Re’s Head of Client Markets, said in a statement.

That chimed with comments from French reinsurer SCOR and No. 4 player Hannover Re, whose share surged this year as investors anticipated strong top-line growth.

“For the coming year, we expect a stable to increasing environment, so we think that for the reinsurance market as a whole, 2010 could be a relatively good year,” Hannover Re Chief Executive Ulrich Wallin told a journalist briefing on Monday.

The world’s biggest reinsurer, Munich Re, which had led the charge for big price increases last year, was slightly more cautious about its expectations, saying it would see sideways development in the bread and butter business. “I don’t see price reductions,” Munich Re board member Torsten Jeworrek told a press briefing on Sunday.

OUT OF POCKET
But many observers are skeptical about whether reinsurers can stick to their pledge on prices, given that their insurance company customers have been badly beaten by the financial crisis and now have less money to spend on reinsurance.

“Overall stable prices would be a good result for reinsurers,” said Jason Howard, CEO of Willis Re International, part of insurance broker Willis. He said the market was balanced in a “precarious position” where price increases appeared unlikely but could jump back on the agenda if, say, a hurricane were to strike. “We’re one big loss away from a hard market,” he said, meaning a market where pricing conditions favor reinsurers.

Industry observers say prices in segments where losses have occurred such as aviation, credit and directors and officers insurance, are bound to rise.

SCOR even predicted that prices will slightly increase for industrial insurance in Germany this year, after years of sliding profitability burned many players.

But worries linger that reinsurance underwriters still might succumb to volume-chasing. “Reinsurers have held the line overall in terms of pricing,” said Laline Carvalho, an analyst at credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s, which has a stable outlook on the sector. “But if capital continues to improve and there are no natural catastrophe-type losses, there will be pressure on pricing,” she said.

Doubts also remain about whether reinsurers would find it easy to re-capitalize themselves if they had to pay for big hurricane losses, given how volatile capital markets may remain.

Global reinsurers are trading at a price-to-book ratio of about 0.9, credit rating agency Moody’s points out. “Trading below book value leads you to ask how much investor support there is for reinsurance companies broadly,” said Moody’s Group Managing Director Ted Collins.

This should keep reinsurers cautious as they contemplate the potential impact on their capital strength of low interest rates, higher inflation, acquisitions or buying back their own shares on the market, analysts said. (Reporting by Jonathan Gould and Jason Rhodes ; Editing by Rupert Winchester and David Cowell)