A.M. Best increases surveillance of insurers' catastrophe exposures.(A.M. Best Company Inc.)

Best's Review, January, 2006

A.M. Best Co. considers catastrophic loss, both natural and manmade, to be the No. 1 threat to the financial strength and credit quality of property and casualty insurers due to the significant, rapid and unexpected impact that can occur. Moreover, immediately following a significant event, the company retains its exposure base, and subsequent events can occur prior to the implementation of any risk mitigation strategies.

Of concern is the rapid escalation in insured exposures over the past decade. Demographic trends and rising property values are driving the property concentration risk in catastrophe-prone areas upward. The evolution of the global economy to a service-based industry has created an unprecedented geographic concentration of workers, thus...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.