At the January 2026 reinsurance renewals, Fidelis Insurance Group added further efficiency to its aggregate protection for the year, in a renewal that saw meaningful rate reductions of around 20% for the company, according to Jonny Strickle, Group Managing Director of Fidelis Insurance Group.
Speaking during the firm’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, Strickle noted that Fidelis’ outwards program delivers robust portfolio protection while driving ongoing margin improvement.
He explained that by combining disciplined execution with long-standing industry relationships and expertise, the organisation is able to secure broad multi-class coverage at strong risk-adjusted pricing.
“Trusted partnerships with top-tier reinsurers built over decades are a cornerstone of this strategy and a clear competitive advantage. We balance core program development with opportunistic purchases, working with counterparties who understand our portfolio and our underwriting discipline,” Strickle explained.
“Our organisational structure and depth of expertise support this approach. Close collaboration between management, underwriting and our inwards partners gives us access to a wide range of products and market insight. This enables us to set an optimised reinsurance program each year and consistently improve outcomes.”
Regarding the recent January renewals, Strickle explained that Fidelis capitalised on favourable market conditions to expand coverage and improve terms.
“In January, when we placed the majority of our annual program, we capitalised on favorable market conditions to expand coverage and improve terms, delivering a really strong outcome, which included meaningful rate reductions of around 20%, while upgrading both coverage quality and counterparty security, enhanced structural protection through new aggregate purchases that were not previously available to improve the overall margin protection, and targeted enhancements that broaden coverage, enhancing terms where needed and strengthening program efficiency,” he said.
Strickle noted that this renewal underscores the role of outwards reinsurance as an active capital management tool.
“While January marks the core placement period, we remain opportunistic throughout the year, adding coverage when it improves margins, enhances our risk profile or increases capital efficiency.”
Throughout 2025, Fidelis also strengthened its outwards program by securing additional coverage at attractive terms through a blend of traditional reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS).
“This broadened protection has enhanced overall portfolio margins as we continue to optimise the interplay between our inwards and outwards exposures,” Strickle said.
“We use outwards reinsurance not only to manage downside risk, but also as a flexible tool to support gross line size while still controlling net exposure. This approach reduces volatility and supports a more resilient risk profile across stress scenarios.”
Strickle also highlighted how Fidelis managed to successfully sponsor another catastrophe bond in January, which secured the firm $75 million in US earthquake retrocessional reinsurance on a collateralized basis.
On this, he noted that conditions in the cat bond market benefitted Fidelis, allowing it to leverage “the pricing available in the cat bond market with what we can achieve writing the inwards portfolio.”
This marked the eighth catastrophe bond in the Herbie Re series of transactions sponsored by Fidelis Insurance, since it first entered the cat bond market back in 2020.
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