Better regulatory uniformity is required globally to help facilitate insurance trade between the United States and its European partners, a panel of insurance officials said.

Even after a number of significant disasters so far in 2010, including the Chilean earthquake and the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, rate hikes are more the exception than the rule in the soft global reinsurance market.

The possibility of a turn in commercial insurance pricing and the certainty of major changes in the way the world's oldest insurance market does business are among the key areas being addressed at NAPSLO's annual conference.

As hurricane Earl bounces up the coastline from the Outer Banks of North Carolina to Cape Cod in New England, insurers are bracing for a big event.