The Bank of Japan (BOJ) ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy on Tuesday, making a historic shift away from its focus on reflating growth with decades of massive monetary stimulus. While the …
Mergers and acquisitions in the global reinsurance sector will be limited into 2023 amid investor concerns over macroeconomic risks and heightened catastrophe losses linked to climate change, according to Fitch Ratings. “We expect reinsurers to prioritise pricing, risk management and …
GLASGOW / NEW YORK – Insurers plan to increase their allocations to private markets to 14% from 11% over the next two years in the hunt for yield, as they add more money to environmentally focused investment funds, BlackRock Inc …
Years of low interest rates and burgeoning catastrophe losses have accelerated the hardening of the reinsurance market, as the January 2021 renewals clearly demonstrated, and moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the “lower for longer” interest rate environment. Considering suboptimal …
Europe’s insurance industry is emerging from the coronavirus crisis with a stronger appetite for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), along with expectations for strong earnings growth in 2021, according to Moody’s annual survey of chief financial officers (CFOs) from 21 leading …
A decade of low interest rates and tough underwriting conditions has led reinsurers to cautiously invest in riskier and more illiquid assets to generate additional return. The good news is that this strategy also has helped reinsurers tolerate the economic …
Even before the coronavirus crisis hit, the re/insurance industry was in a period of significant rate hardening, which will likely continue over the next two years, or even longer, according to Munich Re. Such price increases became necessary after 10-plus …
In the Swiss canton of Zug, officials are going to extremes to avoid getting penalized by the world’s lowest interest rate. To minimize the amount of cash on hand that would get hit with a charge, Zug’s treasury postponed recouping …
The global insurance industry is set to grow more strongly at 4.5 percent per annum on average (3.0 percent in real terms, or adjusted for inflation) during 2017 and 2018, according to Munich Re. While premium income is likely to …
The ongoing pressures of diminishing investment returns, dwindling loss reserves and intense competition are beginning to erode industry fundamentals, cautioned A.M. Best in a special report titled “Insurers Hunt for Diminishing Opportunities in a Market Laden with Challenges.” “There is …
