Despite QBE shares falling to an eight-month low last week, CEO Frank O’Halloran is adamant: earnings forecasts are right on track. QBE shares fell to $6.05 last Wednesday; the company’s lowest since October last year. But Mr O’Halloran’s swift response saw the share price rise back up to $6.76.

He said QBE is on track to deliver net earned premium of $5.5 billon this year and that claims experience in the first five months of the year has been lower than expected.

“While volatile bond and equity markets may affect the movement in unrealised gains at balance date, this is unlikely to affect insurance profit performance,” Mr O’Halloran said.

JP Morgan said in a report that the market has an extreme aversion to risk at the moment and the problem for QBE is that the perceived risks in the stock are massively overstated. “QBE’s share price has weakened considerably over the past few weeks due to an increased focus on the potential risk within the group. In most cases, we believe the market’s view on the potential risks is bordering on the extreme.”