Elysian is back

Roger Ingles emailed me today to say:

"I notice on your site that people have wondered where Elysian had got to – the answer is that we went walkabout for a while and have now returned with a totally new website, which is now just starting to fill up. Here one can read current news in the market and also run queries on financial data for all the clubs over the last 7 years. The global statistics will begin to appear over the next few months as the reporting cycle concludes and we move towards general increases. Same web address: www.elysian-insurance.com and the same slightly British accent !"

Welcome back. Elysian was one of the best sources of P&I news on the Web, if not the best, and the cheeky tone was a refreshing change from all of the piety in Club Circulars and Annual Reports. I hope it comes back, too.

P&I Clubs are likely to increase call levels

A report from A.M. Best Co. Inc. states the obvious after concluding that P&I clubs struggling with soaring claims are likely to increase call levels as they change their underwriting approaches.
Members of the International Group of P&I Clubs have collectively failed to make a technical profit in any financial year since 1999 despite large increases in call levels. Many Clubs have adopted more forward-looking approaches to pricing and those changes are likely to result in further increases in calls. The clubs are expected to rely less on investment income to produce surplus as equity markets have become volatile. High-value claims have had a big impact on the clubs’ underwriting results but it is unclear whether recent large claims mark the beginning of a long-term trend.
The report is free to BestWeek subscribers at http://www.bestweek.com/. Nonsubscribers can download it for $55.