Changes to the UK personal injury discount rate (PIDR) should be positive for the country's non-life insurers, AM Best has said, adding that the move should ease pressure on non-life underwriting results.

AM Best has refined its credit rating methodology to improve transparency around environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks as part of its credit rating analysis.

Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has shifted the outlook of Qatar Insurance Company (QIC) to negative from stable, citing uncertainty over the repayment of some £240mn ($308.8mn) owed to the firm by the UK motor intermediary Markerstudy.

A number of industry bodies have made public their disappointment and surprise in the Ministry of Justice’s decision to alter the UK’s personal injury Discount Rate from -0.75 percent to -0.25 percent.

UK motor insurers’ share price response has been muted as the Ministry of Justice unveiled a new personal injury discount rate this morning (15 July) of -0.25 percent.

The UK motor insurance market has posted its best underwriting result since 1994, according to a study by EY.

Scor managed to grow its premium income by 3.7 percent on a constant currency basis at the January renewals, taking its total top line to EUR3.1bn ($3.8bn).

Qatar Insurance Group (QIC), the parent entity of Qatar Re and Lloyd’s syndicate Antares, reported underwriting profits that slumped $200mn to just $32mn last year. 

The surge in premium for motor insurance tailed off in the final quarter of 2017 after a government pledge to reform the Ogden rate, according to research by Willis Towers Watson.