Since 1993, North America's best reinsurers have relied upon thebiennial, trademarked “Flasp?hler Cedant Survey” to help ensurethat they are effectively and efficiently meeting the important(and evolving) needs of ceding companies.

Although many reinsurers talk about focusing on clients, onlythe best reinsurers consistently measure their progress in meetingcedants' most critical needs in areas including underwriting,claims, timeliness, financial value and customer support.

Not surprisingly, the reinsurers who regularly measure theirprogress in meeting cedant needs dominate the “best of” ratings inthe 2009 survey findings.

The results of this study represent the current opinions,beliefs and perceptions of 696 key ceding company executivesregarding the P&C reinsurance market.

All interviews were conducted with individuals after they firstreceived an e-mail from Flasp?hler Research Group requesting theirparticipation. Interviews were conducted over the Web and bytelephone.

Each Web respondent was given a unique access code, whichallowed them to gain access to the survey questionnaire. Allcontacts were offered a summary of the findings as an inducement toparticipate.

In preparing the survey instrument, Flasp?hler Research Groupworked with reinsurers and select reinsurance brokers to ensurethat key areas were addressed. All interviews were completed in Mayand June 2009. The average interview length was 28.2 minutes.

The overall results of this study are accurate to within amaximum of plus-or-minus 2.9 percent at a 95 percent level ofconfidence. This means that 95 times out of 100, the overall surveyresults should be reproducible to within plus-or-minus 2.9 percent,assuming the same survey questionnaire and methodology.

Among the survey methodology highlights:

o Random Order Questioning. The Web survey usedsophisticated technology to ensure that the multipart questionswere presented in a truly random order, so as to filter out anyartificial bias that might exist if those questions were presentedin exactly the same sequence every time.

o Knowledgeable Responses. The surveys wereconducted using a technique called “adaptive interviewing.”Respondents were only asked to rate reinsurers with which they werefamiliar, and only in regard to how those reinsurers performed onfactors the respondent considered important.

By eliminating the “noise” created by asking respondents to rateunfamiliar companies on unimportant factors, this techniqueprovides the most accurate and reliable information possible.

Flasp?hler Research Group was founded in 1983 and has completedsurveys in 95 countries and a dozen languages. The companyspecializes in B2B research and in research with sophisticatedbuyers and/or research about difficult/sensitive topics.