Reinsurance

Moody's Investors Service placed Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings’ ratings under review due to the company’s expected losses from first-quarter catastrophes.

Swiss Re said it expects $1.2 billion in claims from the Japan earthquake and tsunami on March 11, and warned that the estimate is subject to a high degree of uncertainty.

With reduced collateral requirements, Florida has opened the door for companies to enter the reinsurance market and provide greatly needed relief to domestic insurers.

While roughly 11.0 points of catastrophe losses hit the combined ratios of Bermuda insurers and reinsurers in 2010, they still managed to report nearly 9.0 points of underwriting profit. Favorable loss reserve development from prior years helped soften the blow according to an NU data analysis.

An overview of how catastrophe models are used in the industry.

Catastrophe models have become so ingrained in the insurance industry that a model revision can have profound effects on all aspects of the business, especially when loss results for some books of business can double.