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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
Despite recent catastrophe losses, an influx of third-party investor capital resulted in significant decreases in rates for U.S. property catastrophe programs renewing at July 1, according to reinsurance intermediary Guy Carpenter & Co. L.L.C.
Nontraditional capital now accounts for about $45 billion of the global property catastrophe limit, or about 14% of the market, Guy Carpenter said Tuesday in a briefing. That would put the market in excess of $321 billion.
“At July 1, we saw continued significant decreases in U.S. property catastrophe program pricing. Although the impact of convergence was less dramatic elsewhere, general downward pressure on rates was observed for property business in several other regions and across some casualty lines,” David Flandro, London-based global head of business intelligence at Guy Carpenter, said in a statement.
“Without further significant catastrophe losses in the remainder of 2013, we expect that this downward pricing trend will continue through the remainder of the year and into the Jan. 1, 2014, renewals,” he said.
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Rate decreases also were seen for property catastrophe business in Latin America, apart from Argentina, which suffered floods in April, Guy Carpenter said.
Property retrocessional business also saw significant rate decreases, the reinsurance brokerage noted, while reinsurance rates for marine and energy lines varied depending on loss experience and territory.
However, some U.S. primary casualty lines saw rate increases at July 1, Guy Carpenter noted, and hardening was “notably more evident in workers compensation,” it said.