Insurers who gamble on a tame hurricane season could be in for a shock

The conference season is upon us and it will feature two key events with some profound issues to be discussed and addressed in detail.

Bermuda will host the Hawksmere conference in October which will see many of the industry’s major figures looking at just how well the international insurance and reinsurance markets have handled the past five years and how well they are placed for the challenges of the future.

A sudden turn in the currently benign hurricane season could blow a hole in the market’s current thinking and planning. Bermuda remains a market where the flood of capacity and the arrival of new sidecars is creating a centre for those catastrophe risks at a time of failing appetite for the Nat Cat sector in the more traditional markets, other than the major European reinsurance giants.

Reinsurers in Monte Carlo were taking a tough stance and the brokers have been forced to manage the expectations of their clients in the face of increased discipline from underwriters who feel there is no room for manoeuvre.

This month also sees the AIRROC conference in New Jersey. It comes at a time when there are those in the market who say that if the hurricanes do arrive late and in force, there would be some insurers who gamble on a tame hurricane season - they could be in for a shock.

The international market can see the potential for the US run-off sector, and although this is only the second such conference, this could signal a real watershed in the efforts to bring about a cohesive structure for the handling of US run-off business.

Two conferences at either end of the industry, but both in their own way could have a profound impact in terms of what effect the views aired in Hamilton and Rutherford have on the market’s participants and the regulators in the months to come.