Guy Carpenter’s global reinsurance composite sees 31% decline in net income in 2010 Q1

Guy Carpenter’s global reinsurance composite net income declined 31% in 2010 Q1 over 2009 Q1, falling to an aggregate net gain of $1.4 billion.
The primary driver of the decline was an increase in non-life underwriting losses, says Guy Carpenter’s Capital Ideas.
The composite’s non-life underwriting result in 2010 Q1 was a loss of $1.5 billion. This is a sharp decline from the non-life underwriting gain of $1.1 billion during the same period of 2009.
The composite’s loss ratio increased to 79.9% in 2010 Q1 from 65.3% in 2009 Q1.
“The first quarter of 2010 was dominated by natural catastrophe events including the Chile earthquake, U.S. winter storms, Windstorm Xynthia in Europe and hail in and around Melbourne, Australia,” the report says.
Catastrophe losses from events in excess of $250 million totalled approximately $17 billion in 2010 Q1, an increase from the $7 billion of cat losses in 2009 Q1.
“Looking ahead at the performance of the global composite in the second quarter of 2010, it is likely that earnings will take a hit as a steady stream of loss events bear down,” the report continues.
“The Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and oil spill, several aviation losses, and early signs of potential heightened hurricane activity in Florida may all play a role.”