This issue

Now the market is softening, Bermuda’s reinsurers no longer look like a single entity recording consistently high profits. The first quarter figures show some big differences in approach and performance, although Bermuda is still making plenty of money and combined ratios were all lower than 100%. Many investors in the Bermudian start-ups want some money back, leaving the reinsurers with the difficult task of satisfying shareholder demand at a time of weakening conditions and high losses. Reinsurers are re-examining their figures in the hope that they can spot any incorrect accounting before somebody else does. As a consequence, more business is going through as deposits rather than risktransferring reinsurance. And the probe keeps on going, with AIG and General Re still centre stage, although more companies have been drawn into the investigations.