catastrophe reinsurance

Kevin O’Donnell, President and CEO of Bermuda-based reinsurer and third-party capital management specialist RenaissanceRe, said that at a macro level there is evidence of discipline being lost and risk being priced inadequately in the reinsurance market.

Bermuda-based reinsurance and third-party capital management specialists RenaissanceRe has given a clear example in its results of the increasing move by property catastrophe focused reinsurers to grow their business using specialty lines.

Senior executives from German reinsurer Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance firm, discussed the high-levels of competition in the market and alternative reinsurance capital at some length during the firms analyst conference last week.

The world’s largest reinsurance firm, Munich Re, expects conditions in the global reinsurance market will remain competitive in 2014. It also acknowledges the spreading influence of alternative capital as it spills outside of pure catastrophe business.

Swiss Re is the latest of the large, global reinsurance firms to report its results today and, similarly to competitors Munich Re, Hannover Re, the reinsurer reported pricing down but still attractive at the January renewals.

The inflow of capital from third-party and institutional investors, who are increasingly looking to regions such as Australia in search of new catastrophe reinsurance investment opportunities, is tipped to smooth the rate cycle for Australian insurance customers.

Capital from alternative and third-party sources as well as the insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector may not yet be making huge waves across Asia but it is firmly on the radar of attendees at the 12th Singapore International Reinsurance Conference this week.

As reinsurance industry executives meet in Singapore this week for the 12th International Reinsurance Conference, a report published by reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter shows that both supply and demand for catastrophe reinsurance in the Asia Pacific region are at a high.