Bermuda market re/insurers tracked by AM Best made a combined net loss during the first three quarters of 2011, a special report by the ratings agency reveals.Huge catastrophe losses drove the composite of 19 companies to a combined loss of around $500 million, during the January through September period, AM Best found.Based on the data, the ratings agency suggested that the group may finish up the year being marginally profitable with near break-even underwriting performance.Best found that despite the high level of claims from events including earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand, floods in Australia and Thailand, and Hurricane Irene, the Bermuda market has “managed to preserve its capital base”.And it also sees potential for a rise in reinsurance rates that has been long-awaited by Bermuda reinsurers.“Over the past several years, reinsurers generally have seen demand for capacity decline as primary companies increased retentions across the board,” states the report, entitled “Resilient Bermuda market faces persistent challenges”.“There is increasing speculation that this trend is about to change. The recent spike in global catastrophe activity, along with increased conservatism in catastrophe models, appears to have changed many primary companies’ perception of risk, particularly in the United States.“The revised cat models also have caused some reinsurers to rethink their pricing and capital requirements, which together with increased demand for capacity have applied upward pressure to catastrophe cover rates.”The Bermuda market composite saw its shareholders’ equity fall 3.2 percent to $85.3 billion through the first nine months, AM Best reported.