This marks a further decline from the $2.5 billion deficiency Morgan Stanley estimated for 2016, representing an overall YoY deterioration of $1.6 billion, Reinsurance News has reported.

Analysts have estimated an actuarially reasonable range of reserves between $605.8 billion and $633.7 billion, and the report found that at the 34th percentile of this range, industry carried reserves of $615.4 billion, which were $4.3 billion below the midpoint.

The report found that deficiencies are now present in five of the top six reserve lines, including workers’ compensation, personal auto liability, other liability occurrence, other liability claims-made, and commercial auto liability.

Morgan Stanley said that the bulk of the decline was in the other liability lines, which deteriorated $3.7 billion year-on-year.

The firm said that it does not consider large industry reserve releases to be sustainable, and forecasts slower reserve releases in 2018 and 2019.

The ratings agency has updated Best’s Credit Rating Methodology, in which ERM is now formally recognized as one of the core building blocks in developing a credit rating opinion on an insurance company.

Technological advancements open up new horizons in risk management and the assessment and mitigation of cyber risk poses “a myriad of challenges for insurers”.

The ratings agency said “cyber risk brings insurers’ operational risk to the fore, and for those insurers underwriting cyber risks, a focus on coverage limits and aggregation risks from industries is critical.

“Insurtech and fintech innovations and the growing use of third-party vendors for data analytics add layers of cyber and infrastructure risk, requiring that companies expand and enhance their ERM,” the report said.

The majority of losses come from the California wildfires in October and December 2017, and other related events.

Currently, the industry loss estimate from the Northern and Southern California wildfires is projected at over $13 billion, a rise from initial loss estimates of between $8 billion and $10 billion.

The company has also made a change to its reporting of operating income, a non-GAAP financial measure.

Beginning Q1 2018, Everest Re will adjust its operating income to exclude foreign exchange gains and losses.

According to the report, this is because the company believes the impact of foreign currency movements on income is not indicative of the performance of the underlying business in a particular period.

In his new role, Mr. Probert will be responsible for managing the firm’s global underwriting strategy, and to monitor technical and business performance across all portfolios.

He brings with him more than 35 years of underwriting experience and joins the managing general agent from QBE’s European operations, where he served as Director of Europe.

Talbir Bains, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Volante, said: “Jerry is a fantastic addition to the Volante team and brings an outstanding level of underwriting expertise and leadership experience to the role.

“His appointment underlines our continued commitment to achieving and maintaining the highest standards of underwriting excellence across the Group.”