Active account: following an eventful year, pricing power, credit quality and interest rates mark financial services trends.

Buyside, May, 2002 by Chensvold, Christian M.

None one disputes the importance of the events of September 11, yet it is a tragic irony that the attack on the World Trade Center in the heart of America's financial center should have stimulated a sector of financial services.

As it goes with the markets, events work in chains, and can have surprising results. For example. while the attacks poured salt on the wound of an already ailing economy, one part of the financial industry was propelled forward by the terrorist attack: insurance.

"Industry fundamentals are in the best shape in 15 years," says John Keefe, a property and casualty analyst with Ferris Baker Watts. "And that's because of a confluence of events: an increase in demand and a decrease in supply. We're still in the early innings of a...

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