(Bloomberg) It won’t take another Hurricane Katrina for reinsurers to face losses from covering the cost of storms and earthquakes. Competitors such as hedge funds have eroded prices so much that a typical year of claims could move the industry into losses. Property & casualty reinsurance is “getting very close to combined ratios of 100 percent,” Manfred Seitz, managing director of international reinsurance at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said at a roundtable of industry executives on Monday. “Even if we see normal catastrophe claims in 2016, you could see a number of companies” reach the threshold. A ratio above 100 percent means claims and expenses exceed premium income.
Hedge Fund Inroads Weaken Reinsurers’ Catastrophe Defenses
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