With the industry's capital drained this year by natural catastrophes, financial market losses and falling rates, "the end of the soft market in insurance has arrived," according to Evan Greenberg, chairman and chief executive officer of ACE Limited.
While the insurance industry was overcapitalized at the beginning of the year, disasters–both natural, in terms of storm losses, and man-made, given the financial meltdown on Wall Street–have set the stage for a turnaround in insurance pricing, Mr. Greenberg said during an earnings conference call, in which he announced a 92 percent drop in third-quarter income for his Zurich-based company.
"Additionally, downgrades and government ownership are impairing the ability of a number of companies to operate in the same manner as they have in the past," limiting their abilities to effectively deploy capital, he said.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
