The Travelers Companies Inc. (TRV) has raised $500 million selling catastrophe bonds, or "cat bonds." Travelers entered into two reinsurance agreements with Longpoint Re II Ltd., whereby Longpoint Re II completed two cat bonds offering of $250 million each. Each cat bond provides protection for up to $250 million of reinsurance from losses resulting from certain hurricane events in the northeastern United States occurring on or before Dec. 18, 2012, and on or before Dec. 18, 2013. In the event of a covered loss, Travelers will be entitled to recover amounts under the reinsurance agreements if the index losses for a single occurrence reach an initial attachment amount of $2.25 billion. The full $250 million coverage of each agreement is available on a proportional basis until index losses reach an initial exhaustion amount of $2.85 billion. The cat bond program with Longpoint Re II replaces Travelers’ existing ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – December 8, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the Insurance Industry, including AIG (AIG), PartnerRe Ltd. (PRE), Nymagic Inc. (NYM), The Travelers Companies, Inc. (TRV) and United America Indemnity, Ltd. (INDM).

A synopsis of today’s Industry Outlook is presented below. The full article can be read at http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/28003/Insurance+Industry.

The turmoil in the financial markets has created a highly challenging environment for the U.S. insurance industry, forcing many companies to take immense write-downs. This trend is expected to continue at least through the first half of 2010, though there are some early signs of an economic recovery. Also, structural economies of scale have pushed the industry toward consolidation.

While enormous financial support from the government rescued AIG (AIG) from collapsing, many other firms remain under

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The turmoil in the financial markets has created a highly challenging environment for the U.S. insurance industry, forcing many companies to take immense write-downs. This trend is expected to continue at least through the first half of 2010, though there are some early signs of an economic recovery. Also, structural economies of scale have pushed the industry toward consolidation. While enormous financial support from the government rescued AIG (AIG) from collapsing, many other firms remain under tremendous pressure or have not been able to survive. Competition within the segments of the industry has reduced as a result of rising mergers and acquisitions. This has increased the market shares of the largest firms. We expect growth to be stuck with persistent soft market conditions and an ongoing market crisis, resulting in further consolidation in the industry. However, we expect the overall condition to improve in the second ...

The Travelers Companies, Inc. (TRV) reported second quarter results that missed on Zacks Consensus Estimates by 2 cents, or 1.57%. Earnings per share were $1.25 compared to Zacks Consensus Estimates of $1.27. It is a decrease of 16.67% compared to the prior year's EPS of $1.50. Net written premiums fell to $5.605 billion from $5.629 billion in the second quarter of 2008. Catastrophe losses declined to $130 million after-tax ($200 million pre-tax) from $231 million after-tax ($356 million pre-tax) in the year-ago period. "All of our operating dynamics were strong for the quarter. Retention generally remained at or near historic highs, and we were successful at continuing to achieve rate gains," said Jay Fishman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Rate change was positive in the quarter across each of our three business segments, offsetting lower coverage demands from existing policyholders due to the economic ...

The Travelers Companies Inc.'s (TRV) first-quarter results were dented by lower investment income, though its earnings per share of $1.34, excluding items, inched past the consensus by a penny.

Shares are down more than 3% today.

During the quarter, net investment income fell 27% to $474 million on the back of negative returns in the non-fixed income portfolio as well as lower short-term interest rates.

Net realized investment losses came in at $137 million, compared with $41 million in the year-ago period.

However, Travelers' results reflect a solid underwriting performance, as its combined ratio during the quarter climbed to 90.6% from last year's 87.6%.

The company retained its full-year earnings guidance between $4.50 and $4.90 per share.

Meanwhile, the average forecast for 2009 is pegged at $5.40, down a penny in the last month as 2 out of 18 covering analysts revised downward.

Travelers, a Zacks #3 Rank

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