Insurers are adjusting casualty pricing in response to mounting global pressures, from inflation and tariffs to soaring natural catastrophe losses. That is the message from Pina Albo, the chief executive of Hamilton Insurance Group, who warned that longtail business lines in particular were under scrutiny.

“It’s caused a number of carriers to go back and look at their reserves … and in several cases, adjusting their reserves, you know, recognising prior period development,” Ms Albo said in an interview with AM Best TV.

“On the flip side … it’s caused insurance carriers to look at the rates that they’re charging for this class of business and adjust those rates, in some cases, significantly.”

Ms Albo cited inflation, both economic and social, as a key force reshaping the casualty insurance landscape. She also pointed to tariffs and supply chain disruptions as contributors to rising loss trends.

Insurers are not only focused on today’s exposures but reassessing pricing for the future, especially for complex or speciality classes such as aviation and marine.

“Underwriters have to think about these things when they’re underwriting speciality classes of business,” Ms Albo said, referencing geopolitical instability from the Ukraine war to US domestic unrest.

The reinsurance side is also feeling the squeeze. The industry’s ten-year average for natural catastrophe losses, she said, had jumped from $75 billion to $100 billion, and in only the past two years, had spiked to nearly $150 billion.

“That’s a big number,” she said. “And the frequency and severity of natural catastrophes, whether they're hurricanes, wildfires, severe convective storms. We continue to see this as recently as this past quarter with the wildfires in California.”

Hamilton is navigating the market with what Ms Albo called a hybrid platform and a sharp focus on underwriting profitability. “Every decision we make has to go towards the bottom line,” she concluded.