While the outlook for the reinsurance industry is negative, it remains fundamentally strong, ratings analysts from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s agreed at last week’s 43rd reinsurance Rendez--Vous de Septembre.
The core profitability of the business dropped at year-end 1998 to, if not zero, then pretty close to it, said Alan Murray, vice president-senior credit officer for Moody’s Investors Services in New York.
Earnings levels have been supported by a combination of reserve mining and the realization of capital gains, either from the stock market or from falling rates in the bond market, he said.
