At the roundtable organized by Intelligent Insurer in association with S&P in Baden-Baden, Anvar GABIDULLIN, Director, Insurance, S&P, outlined that between January and July 2015, most lines of business in the insurance field had seen price decreases between 5% and 15%.

One of the main effects of the prices declining could be the deterioration in combined ratios by 2016 towards the 95% to 100% range and a deterioration in return on equity, which would drift towards the 7% to 9% range across the industry, assuming normal levels of NatCat losses.

Despite the difficult market conditions, the S&P representative pointed out that the rating agency will maintain a stable outlook on the industry and does not expect to be revising reinsurers' ratings over the next year. The main reason is that the reinsurance industry is very well capitalized: "Most companies have pretty good buffers in place to absorb losses. (...) The industry is very sophisticated in its approach to risk management and many companies are also taking action to help them manage the situation".