Reinsurance

The impact of the Thailand floods on Bermuda based insurers and reinsurers weighed down the overall fourth-quarter underwriting profits of property and casualty companies followed by analyst firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Munich Re says it established a $75 million catastrophe bond through the Bermuda-based special purpose insurer Queen Street V Re Ltd. for hurricane exposure in the United States and European windstorm.

QBE Insurance Group has announced the retirement of its chief executive officer as it reveals yearly net profit was down 45 percent.

Read what Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, has to say about his successor, his companys insurance operations, the economy, and a newspaper-throwing challenge.

Berkshire Hathaways insurance group reported a 30.5 percent drop in pre-tax earnings in 2011, driven mainly by $2.6 billion in pre-tax losses from catastrophe events.

Despite many insurers suffering operating losses in 2011, excess capital remains throughout the industry, and analyst firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods says it is likely insurers will maintain that capital for 2012 growth opportunities rather than return it to shareholders.