Willis boss Joe Plumeri tells the FT that without serious (think $50bn-$100bn) catastrophe losses, it could be the end of 2009 or into 2010 before rates recover.
>”All the signs are that I don’t think the soft market is going to last a long long time . . . but it does not seem to be something that is going to end in a few months.”

he said (perhaps a little ungrammatically, but you get the drift).

This contrasts somewhat with some of the more optimistic reports I’ve seen coming out of Monte Carlo, but it seems more credible–rates are under pressure just as investment income is falling because of the global financial unrest. And we’ve already had a catastrophic first 6 months.

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