Reinsurance

Evan Greenberg, chairman and chief executive officer of ACE Ltd. says the company is seeing rates flat-to-positive in some lines, with competition in commodity-type business.

The impact of natural catastrophes took a toll on Swiss Re during the 2011 first quarter, as the company reported a net loss of $665 million.

Reinsurance brokerage firm Holborn says estimates of insured losses from the Tohoku, Japan earthquake and tsunami in March are off by as much as $23 billion.

German-based reinsurer Hannover Re AG says Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami cost it $344 millionpart of a heavy burden of losses from natural disasters that weighed down its earnings.

Industry reports released over the past week show that plenty of capacity still remains for property and casualty lines, but the direction of pricing remains uncertain.

The first round of P&C earnings reports for the first-quarter reveal few catalysts for a turn in primary insurance prices. P&C Insurance Analyst William Wilt explores what the first-quarter number may be saying about pricing cycles and capital commitments for both insurers and reinsurers.