Market News

Despite the combined impact of elevated catastrophe activity and the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020, the insurance-linked securities (ILS) and traditional reinsurance markets demonstrated resilience at January renewals, according to A.M. Best. Global reinsurance capital returned to its pre-pandemic level of $485 billion as 2020 ended. Read More

Strategic risks are among the most threatening to many organizations but are an area where creative thinking and captive insurance can help organizations address perils and improve performance. Organizations can achieve creative solutions by marrying captive insurance with risk identification, risk financing, and a risk portfolio perspective. Read More

Heightened catastrophe activity, the COVID-19 pandemic, and lower investment income took a toll on US property-casualty (P&C) insurers' profitability in 2020, according to Fitch Ratings. For a group of 50 North American (re)insurers, generally accepted accounting principles return on equity declined to 4.6 percent in 2020 from 7.5 percent in 2019. Read More

A.M. Best has become a signatory to the United Nations Environment Program FI Principles for Sustainable Insurance, the first credit rating agency to do so. Best said it believes the insurance industry plays an important role in supporting sustainable economic and social development. Read More

Legislation recently approved by Montana lawmakers and signed into law by Governor Greg Gianforte eliminates mandatory examinations every 5 years by the state insurance commissioner or an examiner appointed by the commissioner for most captive insurance companies. Instead, examinations would be conducted as often as the insurance commissioner "considers advisable." Read More