Property and Casualty Insurance: A Bad
Business Structured for Low Profits?
The property and casualty industry has recently suffered
huge losses arising from a long, soft market, the attack on the World
Trade Center, and the collapse of Enron. Much of this poor experience
in recent years can be attributed to the following structural
weaknesses:
Not knowing the true cost of the products sold, which
gives companies ample opportunity to justify low prices in order to
meet revenue targets.
Exposure to events that were not contemplated in the
underwriting and rating processes, such as terrorism.
An inability to apply credibility correctly to individual risk
experience causes many policyholders to get too much credit for good
experience (luck).
Speakers will address how the above items and other
issues helped to cause the industry's poor results and what changes
need to be made to restore the long-term profitability of the
industry. Speakers will include industry executives and members of the
investment community.
Moderator:
Jeffrey L. Dollinger, FCAS, National Accounts Lead Actuary,
Employers Reinsurance Corporation
Panelists:
Todd R. Bault, FCAS, Analyst-Institutional Research, Sanford C. Bernstein
& Co., Inc.
Jeffrey Cohen, Principal, MMC Capital
Workers Compensation Catastrophe Modeling
Prior to September 11, 2001, workers compensation
catastrophe reinsurance was written and priced without a true appreciation
for its exposure. Insurance companies, reinsurers, and even
rating agencies are now in an aggressive pursuit of more
appropriate modeling techniques to assess and manage their exposure to loss.
In this session, panelists will present an update of available
modeling techniques and discuss how both reinsurer and primary
company professionals are using them for pricing and exposure management.
Moderator:
Elizabeth E.L. Hansen, FCAS, Managing Director, Guy Carpenter Instrat.
Panelists:
Seth Ruff, FCAS, Assistant Vice President, Swiss Re Underwriters Agency
Bill Tuttle, Vice President of Product Marketing, Risk Management Solutions
Jay Guin, Ph.D., Vice President, Research and Modeling, Advanced Insurance Research
