Despite Bermuda executives' repeated assertions that a hard property-catastrophe reinsurance market has officially arrived, diversified companies reporting first-quarter results last week showed uninspiring premium growth and revealed a handful of income surprises.
“The record number of hurricanes and typhoons in 2004, together with the K-R-W [Katrina, Rita and Wilma] losses from last year are finally giving rise to the first signs since 1993 of a hard market,” said Jim Bryce, chief executive officer of IPC Re, during a conference call. Mr. Bryce defined a “hard market” as one in which “there is a lack of capacity to complete placements, regardless of price.”
IPC Re, the lone monoline property cat writer to report first-quarter earnings last week, was also the only one of seven publicly traded Bermuda companies to show double-digit premium growth. But many executives suggested Jan. 1 renewals were a bit of a bust, with some markets hardening, but not fast enough.
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