Insurers slide after Selective Insurance sparks concern on reserve issue
** Shares of W.R. Berkley WRB.N, AIG AIG.N, Cincinnati Financial CINF.O, Chubb CB.N and Everest Group EG.N fall between 3% and 8%
** Late Thursday, Selective Insurance SIGI.O posted a surprise Q2 loss hurt by unexpected unfavorable reserve development of $176 mln
** Reserves are a certain amount of funds set aside by insurers in order to meet any future claims they may have to pay
** SIGI said the significant reserve addition was due to higher severity that it attributes to social inflation
** Severity is the cost of a claim while social inflation refers to the trend of rising insurance costs due to increased litigation, plaintiff-friendly judgments and higher jury awards
** Piper Sandler analyst Paul Newsome says investors will be concerned that other insurers with reserve issues in Q1 will also have them in Q2, like SIGI
** Oppenheimer analysts say that while SIGI's results were a clear disappointment, they think the insurer is getting ahead of what it expects to be a widespread problem for the industry
Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru
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