Property/Casualty Market Enters Unusual Period
Posted:
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
Category:
Insurance Training
The property/casualty insurance industry has entered an unusual period, notes Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. in its “2012 Outlook: Are We There Yet?” report. The New York-based KBW points out that insurer capital is still abundant and pricing is improving (from the insurers’ perspective), but that return on equity is expected to retreat.
“What is historically unusual is that this shift is occurring despite solid capital positions, which are allowing many leading players to buy back stock,” KBW says in the report.
The report states that the industry is reacting to “increasingly common ‘unusual’ large-loss events,” something that is quite familiar now to Texas insurance agents, many possessing a property and casualty insurance license, who have seen many calamities visit the state in recent years, including the devastating Bastrop firestorm in September 2011.
The report forecasts that rate increases will be moderate, not uniform, and “not in any way a traditional hard market.” Well-positioned insurers might find such an environment to be “a boon, but for others, it simply won’t be enough,” says KBW.
In an analysis of third-quarter property/casualty, KBW observes that while pricing might be improving, underwriting results continue to be lethargic.
LearnInsurance.com is helping insurance agents and adjusters in Texas in their work with affected homeowners as they settle claims by providing the necessary Texas insurance continuing education and Texas adjusters license online program to insurance agents.
