NU Online News Service, March 4, 3:03 p.m. EST

As more evidence accumulates that insurers are using less reserves to augment earnings, pressure will mount on underwriting and force carriers to begin raising rates by near double-digit figures in 2012, according to a financial analyst.

In a report analyzing reserve releases among publicly traded insurers, Meyer Shields, with the firm Stifel Nicolaus, said that his review of 49 insurers’ fourth-quarter earnings results reveals the aggregate reserve release declined by 300 percent on a year-over-year basis.

Recommended For You

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
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 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.