Reinsurance

With plenty of capital still in the pipelines, no industrywide price increase is expected from Japan’s Tohoku earthquake, and any talk about a hard market is being greeted with skepticism, according to a financial analyst.

Storm losses in the United States over the past month are expected to exceed $100 million, according to a report issued by Aon Benfield.

XL Group says pretax losses from the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami will be between $190 million and $290 million.

A climate nuisance liability case to be heard by the Supreme Court may be the environmental case of the decade, according to William F. Stewart, a coverage attorney, who details the implications of Conn. vs. AEP.

Foreign reinsurers may be permitted to post less collateral when doing business in New Jersey with legislation signed by Gov. Chris Christie that gives regulators the ability to cut previous full-collateral requirements.

Last year was a costly one in terms of dollars and human life as insurers saw catastrophe losses increase by 59 percent from the previous year, according to a Swiss Re report.

Standard and Poor’s has revised its outlook on nine Japanese insurers due to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, while Moody’s says current loss estimates by two reinsurers are credit negative for that sector.

Arch Reinsurance Ltd. has become the 12th foreign reinsurer to be approved in Florida to post reduced collateral.