The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Kamran Mark Hossain - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: Two questions from me. The first one is just coming back on the reserving side. I mean just trying to work out how the assumption changes into
play with, I guess, the $3 billion or more target and also as well kind of positive reserve development that you've seen elsewhere. And I guess if
you haven't seen positive reserve development in property and in specialty, do you think you would have made similar assumption changes? Or
do you think there's no relationship between, I guess, those segments?
The second question is you're well on track for the $3 billion or more target for this year. Your SST ratio is remarkably high. Should we be thinking
about share buybacks at some point? Or is there a need to kind of repair hard capital and maybe kind of in later years, might get share buyback
(inaudible).
Question: William Fraser Hardcastle - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst
: The first one is on premium growth. John, you touched on gross written premium. I was looking at the net earnings as well year-on-year, and it
declined -- and was sort of flat in Property, and it was down 7% in Casualty. This is just Q3 discrete. I guess what were the drivers there? I'm just
thinking because of the earnings versus the written, that wouldn't be because of that? And should we be seeing this accelerate in light of the hard
market benefits.
The second one is just thinking about if it's possible to get the breakdown of the $150 million or so PYD between Casualty strengthening and the
releases. With the amount of strengthening, it's more of a high-level question. But with this amount of strengthening, do you think the reserve are
now less likely to need further strengthening than you perhaps saw 3 months ago? I know you mentioned it's mostly IBNR, I think it was largely
IBNR in H1 as well. And have there also been specific notifications in the quarter that have driven this increase?
Question: Tryfonas Spyrou - Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG, Research Division - Analyst
: Most of my questions have been answered, but I've got 2. One of them is more broadly on the outlook from nat cat reinsurance. Obviously, we've
seen lots of losses in Europe this year and undoubtedly, these are causing some pain to the primary players. So I was interested in how do you see
the dynamic between demand for more protection and capacity going into renewals? I guess would the primary players want to buy more insurance
or do they treat these storms as sort of one-off and even more demand is actually sold by primary players. Would it mean that attachment points
we need to come down in order this to get fulfilled. So just interested in how this can play out.
And the second one is your thoughts on Hurricane Otis? And what's your --any thoughts on potential losses coming from that?
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