Aon Benfield: Reinsurers see capital recovery

Global reinsurance capital recovered to $396bn at year end and nearing the record levels set in 2007, according to Aon Benfield’s latest research report.

The Aon Benfield Aggregate (ABA), which analyses the financial results of 30 global reinsurers at year end 2009, revealed that shareholders' funds even surpassed their pre-credit crisis level of 2007, reaching $210bn - a rise of 28% on full year 2008.

The ABA group account for more than 50% of estimated global reinsurer capital.

The capital surplus triggered a resumption of share repurchases with $2.4bn returned to shareholders, a trend which has continued into 2010.

The ABA report also highlights that GWP underwritten by the ABA group eased 1% in 2009 to $133bn. The aggregate combined ratio improved by 4.8% to 90.9% driven by a lower loss ratio.

The report noted that contribution to the underwriting result from prior year reserve releases was 3.3%, compared with 4.2% in 2008;

For the ABA group, pre-tax profit trebled from $9bn to $27bn.

This story was originally published by Reinsurance

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