Specialty insurer RLI Corp. reported a first-quarter 2009 net loss of $1.8 million, compared to the period last year when it posted a $25.5 million profit.

Property-casualty insurers trying to keep adequate capital levels will face a tough challenge continuing past this year, a rating service said.

Onset of a hard market for the property-casualty insurance industry has been delayed by record 2006 and 2007 surpluses, few impediments to new entrants, and competition with American International Group, a brokerage study found.

While maritime piracy off the coast of Africa has grabbed recent headlines, companies should be aware of increasing kidnapping and ransom risks for personnel traveling to many other areas of the world, an insurer is warning.

Moves by Florida lawmakers to provide a federal backstop to the state's severely underfunded Hurricane Catastrophe Fund are running into strong headwinds on Capitol Hill.

A National Association of Insurance Commissioners task force voted yesterday to continue using existing model laws as guidelines for a personal lines regulatory framework and rejected a bid for a less restrictive system.

Loosening credit markets have boosted the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund's anticipated post-event bonding capacity by an additional $5 billion, easing the shortfall in projected claims-paying ability for the fund, a FHCF spokesman said.

Catastrophe bond issuance activity is not expected to re-visit the record-breaking levels of 2007, but estimates currently put 2009 on track to supplant 2008 as the third-busiest year for cat bonds, according to a brokerage forecast.