Reinsurance News

As the reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector begins to head into the key January renewals period, equity analysts at investment bank Jefferies have said that competitive dynamics within both the catastrophe bond and retrocession markets are likely to reinforce downward pressure at 1/1.

Moody’s Ratings forecasts that property catastrophe reinsurance pricing will likely fall around 15% over the coming year, as elevated capital levels result in a supply-demand dynamic that favors buyers of protection.

For the sixth year running, 2025 will see over $100 billion of natural catastrophe losses covered by sources of insurance and reinsurance capital, according to Swiss Re’s Institute, with the research part of the reinsurer projecting a total of around US $107 billion for the year.

Following a field trip to Bermuda, analysts at TD Cowen have concluded from their discussions on the island that higher-layer property catastrophe reinsurance rates could be down 20% or more at the January 2026 renewals, while attachment points are largely holding, but the renewal is seen as running late.

Looking ahead to 2026, Michael van der Straaten, CEO of Antares Global, a London-based specialty re/insurer, outlined that the company is projecting that alternative capital, captives, and new structures will continue to play a key role towards shaping the specialty re/insurance market throughout next year.

Having recently launched the OAK Enterprise retrocession focused Syndicate 1440 at Lloyd’s, executives from the company spoke with Artemis to discuss the opportunity they see in writing retro with the backing and support of third-party capital investors, as well as use of the London Bridge ILS structure to channel funding.

Willis Re, the recently established reinsurance brokerage launched by WTW in a joint venture established with specialist private investment firm Bain Capital, is building out its broking expertise of relevance to the insurance-linked securities and third-party reinsurance capital markets.

The financial regulator in Abu Dhabi is asking for stakeholder and industry feedback as it considers developing a framework to support growth of an insurance-linked securities market there, while also seeking input to a concept for a “synthetic sidecar” structure that would sit within a regulated insurance entity.

Catastrophe data aggregator PERILS has provided its first initial insurance industry loss estimate for the severe convective storms (SCS) that struck Australia’s East Coast in late October, at AU $1.108 billion (USD $736 million).

While rate decreases have persisted within catastrophe exposed property reinsurance, analysts at Amwins believe they are beginning to trend toward moderation, anticipating that any continued downward movement will likely shift to between 10% to 15% as 1/1 approaches, but also noting that underwriting standards have loosened modestly.