LOMA Research Report Examines the Changing Reinsurance Industry

ATLANTA, GA, September 30, 2004--The global reinsurance industry has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past few years, according to a new report available from LOMA, entitled The Changing Reinsurance Industry.

“The global reinsurance industry has expanded its services beyond accepting risks that primary insurers want to transfer,” said report author Stephen W. Forbes, Ph.D., FLMI, senior vice president of research at LOMA. “Today insurers rely upon reinsurers for a variety of services ranging from surplus financing to advice on designing, underwriting, and pricing products.”

These days, reinsurers are hedging a variety of financial risks such as financial guarantees for municipal bond insurers and currency convertibility guarantees for organizations conducting business in foreign countries, said Forbes.

The exposures that reinsurers underwrite have expanded in both their variety and their potential for catastrophic losses. Examples discussed in the report include increased concentrations of properties along coastlines, jumbo tort liability claims, cyber risks involving damage to global computer networks, the possibility of chemical, biological, and nuclear terrorist acts, and expanding ocean marine risks involving container ships, oil tankers, and cruise ships responding to increased global trade and commerce.  

Topics in The Changing Reinsurance Industry include:

• The current state of the global reinsurance business

• The economic structure of the industry

• Challenges involved in selecting reinsurers

• Management issues that reinsurers must deal with successfully in order to survive and prosper

• Factors contributing to a positive long-term outlook for the reinsurance industry

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