Are reinsurance companies overcapitalized?

The cost of insurance and reinsurance tends to follow the classic supply and demand dynamic – if there is too much supply relative to demand, prices will decline and vice versa. In reinsurance, we tend to measure supply in terms of capital, i.e. the money available to (re)insurers to support the ris...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor principal: Bender, Anna
Formato: Article ou chapitre numérique
Idioma:Français
Publicado em: 2020
Acesso em linha:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Descrição
Resumo:The cost of insurance and reinsurance tends to follow the classic supply and demand dynamic – if there is too much supply relative to demand, prices will decline and vice versa. In reinsurance, we tend to measure supply in terms of capital, i.e. the money available to (re)insurers to support the risks that they accept from their policyholders. Demand is defined as the amount of premium a (re)insurer is receiving from their policyholders in exchange for taking on a part or all of one or several risks. Over the years the cost of reinsurance has declined to almost unsustainable levels due to an increase in capital relative to demand1.We believe that falling prices in the reinsurance industry due to the supply and demand argument are somewhat misguided. The cause for the increasing levels of (re)insurer capital over the past few years are mainly driven by the increasing demands of the rating agencies. High financial strength ratings as assigned by the rating agencies have become a necessity to (re)insurers in order to successfully compete in the market and significant amounts of capital, often far in excess of regulatory demands, tend to be required to achieve a high financial strength rating.