Aon Benfield Says Re Rates Remain Soft At April 1 Renewals

As April 1 property catastrophe market renewals closed, rates continued the same soft market trend witnessed during Jan. 1 renewals, according to a report from reinsurance broker Aon Benfield.

In an update report on its Reinsurance Market Outlook, Aon Benfield, a unit of Chicago-based insurance broker Aon, said that despite significant reinsurer reports of first quarter income impacts, catastrophe losses from the Chilean earthquake, Windstorm Xynthia in Europe, and other global events, the impact on reinsurer capital is not significant.

At Dec. 31, 2009, the industry returned to near record capital while facing level to declining demand for reinsurance from cedents.

The firm said Japan's catastrophe risks dominate the April renewals period, and the Japanese property catastrophe market saw risk adjusted price reductions of between zero and 5 percent with capacity remaining stable.

Significant U.S. property catastrophe renewals at April 1 saw risk adjusted price reductions of 5 to 15 percent, a range of reductions similar to the levels experienced on Jan. 1 renewals.

Bryon Ehrhart, chief executive officer of Aon Benfield analytics, said, "Clients found the April 1 renewal market met their expectations of a continued global softening. Reinsurance capacity, even after considering the first quarter losses in non-peak zones, continues to exceed insurer demand for reinsurance. The reinsured losses in the first quarter likely drive reinsurer consolidations more than reinsurer pricing strength in coming renewals."

In the United Kingdom, property catastrophe reinsurance rates continued to decline during the first quarter of 2010, with the majority of programs seeing comparable reductions to the January renewals period and excess capacity still evident--particularly at the top end of programs.

Meanwhile, the first quarter retrocession renewals period saw a reduction in buyer appetite and an increase of supply, as reinsurance markets sought to capitalize on the healthy rates seen in this line of business.

"Our outlook for the forthcoming June and July 2010 renewals remains aligned with our forecast at January 1, 2010," Mr. Ehrhart noted. "Rate increases taken in 2009 are largely reversing in 2010 and markets that held firm in 2009 are returning to a mild softening phase."