The bloated net asset value of insurers makes for excess capital, therefore capacity, therefore supply, which drives prices down. Some therefore argue that this capital glut may be permanent. This would be an elemental change and not merely a shift in the cycle. Interest rates and the stock market are beyond insurers' control, as is the ability to unilaterally raise premiums. Arguably insurers could do more to meet the needs of corporate risk managers, but regardless, reversing the current growth stagnation will be tough without addressing capacity.
Insurers can impact capacity.
Capacity is no longer a function of premium alone. Securitization has fundamentally changed insurance cycle dynamics. As a result many analysts say it will take substantially more than one catastrophe loss to prompt a hardening of the market. Alternative risk financing must factor this into the analysis.