NEW YORK – Property/casualty rates are under mounting upward pressure due to recent catastrophe losses and continued low interest rates that have limited investment returns, according to speakers at last week’s Property/Casualty Insurance Joint Industry Forum in New York.
In addition, a survey of industry executives who attended the event found that nearly three-quarters of respondents said the industry is in the early stages of a hard market.
After 2012 saw a concentration of international earthquake, flooding and other major catastrophe losses, insurance companies are “seriously rethinking” their exposures, and commercial rate particularly those involving catastrophe risks clearly are rising, said Jay Gelb, managing director of Barclays Capital. Mr. Full Post…