Will insurers and analysts ever stop being surprised by the demographics and science of asbestos litigation? See below for a quote from a sell side analyst’s August 7, 2016 take on Hartford and its upsized asbestos charges, and thinking of a “more forceful” approach. It’s from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods:
“Asbestos and Environmental: Although HIG’s 2Q16 $269 million A&E reserve charge materially exceeded our projected $150 million charge, we view its overall A&E reserve development as directionally consistent with industry-wide trends. Mr. Swift noted that asbestos attorneys are pursuing older asbestos claimants, which lowers average claim size but has translated into slower claim count declines amongst a subset of claimants, and that given recent years’ worse-than-expected trends, HIG is now more open to considering “bigger” solutions (which could include transferring latent tort liabilities to a reinsurer, adopting a more conservative point estimate for A&E reserves, etc.) to more forcefully address the issue.”