LONDON (BestWire) - On the strength of strategic corporate decisions on domiciling and investment, Switzerland is emerging as an important insurance center, according to Nick Bacon, chief executive officer of broker Bowring Marsh.

A survey by Bowring Marsh found there are 27 markets in Switzerland, Mr. Bacon said at a London seminar sponsored by the International Underwriting Association.

"They're mainly reinsurance markets, which means that they're mainly not markets that Bowring Marsh trades with," Bacon said. "But they're certainly markets that we want to follow, that we want to build relationships with."

Mr. Bacon cited the announcement by Allied World Assurance Co. Holdings Ltd. that it would move its domicile from Bermuda to Switzerland. And he pointed to a recent decision by Bermuda-based specialty insurer and reinsurer Catlin Group Ltd. to set up a reinsurance company in Switzerland. Catlin has "invested a billion dollars of capital to create a new vehicle" in Switzerland, he added.

Questions surrounding the developing Swiss markets would include how far they might move from treaty to facultative reinsurance "and then ultimately to what degree they actually do direct insurance business as well", Bacon said.

Bowring Marsh places business in both Switzerland and Germany from its Zurich office on behalf of clients seeking to buy catastrophe limits, Bacon said.

International insurance business no longer just comes into Bermuda and London, Mr. Bacon said. Much of the big Asian business, for instance, is traded regionally and across national boundaries. A lot of this business is now done in Singapore, with future growth likely in such markets as Hong Kong and Tokyo, he said.

Current London market rates for U.S. property catastrophe risk are down by about 10 percent, Mr. Bacon said. This compares to a fall of 10 percent to 20 percent three months ago.

"So there seems to be a gradual reduction in the scale of the rate reductions that are being achieved," he said.

Casualty rates in Europe are flat or down by five percent from three months ago. Latin American casualty business has seen a decline of about 10 percent in premiums.

"Terrorism continues to be a very profitable class of business for the market and therefore the rates continue to soften," Mr. Bacon said.

Apart from Thailand, terrorism rates continue, as in July, to be down about 20 percent year-to-date, he said, noting that substantial premium increases in Thailand follow political unrest earlier in the year.