Reinsurance

Swiss Re said it expects $1.2 billion in claims from the Japan earthquake and tsunami on March 11, and warned that the estimate is subject to a high degree of uncertainty.

With reduced collateral requirements, Florida has opened the door for companies to enter the reinsurance market and provide greatly needed relief to domestic insurers.

An overview of how catastrophe models are used in the industry.

While roughly 11.0 points of catastrophe losses hit the combined ratios of Bermuda insurers and reinsurers in 2010, they still managed to report nearly 9.0 points of underwriting profit. Favorable loss reserve development from prior years helped soften the blow according to an NU data analysis.

A change to a catastrophe model can influence the level of reinsurance purchased by companies and impinge on the rating process.

Recent revision to a cat model could result in double loss indications for some portfolios. But reinsurers may be able to absorb the model changes without huge increases because they already thought the models were coming in low.