OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings says Bermuda (re)insurers face a negative sector outlook due to increased capital supply and sluggish demand that will continue to push pricing lower and pressure 2016 earnings. In a new Bermuda Market (Re)Insurance Dashboard, Fitch says the sector has embraced M&A activity to combat market stress, but continued consolidation may have only a limited impact on supply challenges.

Fitch expects consolidation in the Bermuda (re)insurance market to continue into 2016 as companies seek to enhance scale while underwriting and investment pressure persists. The majority of Bermuda (re)insurer ratings should be stable as declines in earnings will be within the tolerances of current ratings.

Bermuda (re)insurers have so far been resilient and despite weakening earnings, they maintain strong capitalisation, favorable but shrinking reserve redundancies and modest premium growth.