The sector suffered its most expensive catastrophe year on record in 2017, JLT said in a statement, following hurricanes in the United States and the Caribbean and wildfires in California.

However, the rate rises came in below expectations, due to strong competition in the sector, JLT said.

U.S. reinsurance rates rose 10-20 percent in loss-affected areas.

Global rates for retrocession, the reinsurance of reinsurance, also rose 10-20 percent. Some market watchers had predicted 40-50 percent rises in the worst-hit areas.

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn, editing by Dasha Afanasieva)