We are primarily engaged in writing property and casualty insurance and reinsurance. We have four ongoing reporting segments: Excess and Surplus Lines, Commercial Specialty, International Specialty and Syndicate 1200. Additionally, we have a Run-off Lines segment for products that we no longer underwrite.
Cash provided (used) by operating activities can fluctuate due to timing difference in the collection of premiums and reinsurance recoveries and the payment of losses and expenses. For the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, cash provided by operating activities was $282.6 million and $130.5 million, respectively, while cash used by operating activities was $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2013. The increase in cash flows provided by operating activities in 2015 compared to 2014 was driven by the timing of reinsurance payments primarily concentrated in the Syndicate 1200 segment, partially offset by the first quarter 2014 partial settlement of a whole account quota share contract covering the Syndicate 1200 segment loss reserves for the 2009 and prior years of account. The increase in cash flows from operations in 2014 compared to 2013 was primarily due to increased collections on our reinsurance recoverables on paid losses offset by the settlement of our reinsurance payable due to the closing of the Syndicate 1200 segment’s remaining whole account quota share contract covering segment loss reserves for 2009 and prior years of account, in addition to the closing of the 2011 year of account.
On November 5, 2013, our Board authorized the repurchase of up to $150.0 million of our common shares (“2013 Repurchase Authorization”). The 2013 Repurchase Authorization supersedes all the previous repurchase authorizations. As of December 31, 2015, availability under the 2013 Repurchase Authorization for future repurchases of our common shares was $63.1 million.
We have a Run-off Lines segment that includes reserves for asbestos, environmental and other latent exposures. These latent exposures are typically characterized by extended periods of time between the dates we first became exposed to a loss, a claim was reported and the claim is resolved. For our Run-off Lines segment long-tail loss reserves, there is significant uncertainty involved in estimating reserves for asbestos, environmental and other latent injury claims. We use several methods to estimate reserves for these claims including an approach that projects future calendar period claims and severities, a report year method which estimates loss reserves based on the pattern and magnitude of reported claims and ground-up analysis that relies on an evaluation of individual policy terms and conditions. We also consider survival ratio and market share methods which compare our level of loss reserves and loss payments to that of the industry for similar exposures. We apply greatest weight to the method that projects future calendar period claims and severities because we believe it best captures the unique claim reporting and severity characteristics of the underlying exposures and loss development potential. We perform a full review of our Run-off Lines asbestos, environmental and other latent exposures loss reserves at least once a year and review loss activity quarterly for significant changes that might impact management’s best estimate.
Workers compensation is generally considered a long-tail coverage as it takes a relatively long period of time to finalize claims from a given accident year. Certain payments, such as initial medical treatment or temporary wage replacement for the injured worker, are generally disbursed quickly. Other payments are made over the course of several years, such as awards for permanent partial injuries. Some payments continue to take place throughout the injured worker’s life, such as permanent disability benefits and on-going medical care. Although long-tail in nature, claims generally are not subject to long reporting lags, settlements are generally not complex and most of the liability exposure is characterized by high frequency and moderate severity. The largest reserve risks are generally associated with low frequency, high severity claims that require lifetime coverage for medical expense arising from a worker’s injury.
As a property catastrophe reinsurer, incurred losses are inherently more volatile than those of primary insurers and reinsurers of risks that have an established historical pattern of losses. The most significant uncertainty in reserves involves estimates of catastrophe losses. In reserving for catastrophe losses, estimates are influenced by underwriting information provided by clients, clients’ market shares, industry catastrophe models, industry loss estimates and internal analyses of this information. This reserving approach can cause significant development from initial loss estimates in the immediate wake of a catastrophe event due to the limited information available to us as a reinsurer regarding the actual underlying losses. This process can cause the ultimate estimates to differ significantly from initial projections.
As noted above, we have elected to make the first day of the fourth quarter the annual impairment assessment date for goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets. An impairment analysis subsequent to this date has not been performed as we believe that no additional indicators of impairment have arisen, such as significant additional pricing competition, unexpected significant declines in operating results, divestiture of a significant component of the business or further significant decline in market capitalization.