Property/casualty insurers feeling effects of disaster claims: Analysis

Ongoing disaster claims are beginning to affect property/casualty industry loss reserves, New York-based Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. said in an analysis released Friday. KBW said that while the industry’s loss and loss adjustment expense reserves generally were adequate at year-end 2011, reserve deficiencies in recent years may soon offset redundancies from prior years. “In general, we believe reserves for accident years 2004 to 2008 remain redundant and should continue to develop favorably over time, albeit at a declining rate, and accident year 2009 seems adequate,” the investment banking firm said in the analysis.