Guy Carpenter and Oliver Wyman, both wholly owned subsidiaries of Marsh & McLennan Companies, are to release their 2014 Insurance Risk Benchmarks Research: Annual Statistical Review.
The benchmarks provide metrics and insights to allow clients to understand if they are accurately quantifying risks by line of business, by industry segment and across cycles.
The risk benchmarks are based on proprietary analyses of a database of financial results from thousands of property and casualty insurance companies over a period of more than 30 years.
The 2014 research also refines the industry market segments to include regional composites designed to better group companies with similar exposure to natural perils.
It also includes papers that examine best practices in risk appetite and tolerance, Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) readiness across the industry, results and analysis on the property and casualty industry capital model, and advanced modeling research.
"Relatively low natural peril activity, impressive returns on the stock market, benefits from deferred tax assets and changes to pension accounting all contributed to the strong financial results seen in the 2013 [property and casualty] market," commented Micah Woolstenhulme, manager of the enterprise risk management services team for Guy Carpenter.
“Whether we are in a soft market, where the industry shows the greatest volatility, or in a more stable hard market, the Insurance Risk Benchmarks Research provides vision into the insurance landscape so that companies are able to assemble a complete image of risk and opportunity for their business.”
The report found that reserve releases continued throughout 2013 as the industry recorded the largest release of the most recent accident year since 2007. Ultimate loss estimates were reduced for each historical accident year since 2004.
"Our research goes beyond a simple annual industry update," said Joel Vaag, principal of actuarial consulting at Oliver Wyman.
"The Insurance Risk Benchmarks research and subsequent reports are compiled as a living exercise in industry risk management that grows and creates new value with each installment. The depth and breadth of this analysis arms our clients with actionable intelligence to recognise risk and seize opportunity.”
