Reinsurance renewals news

In reporting its first-quarter results this morning, Hannover Re’s CEO Jean-Jacques Henchoz called the successful growth and pricing achieved at reinsurance renewals so far this year, a “major cornerstone to secure Hannover Re’s long-term profitability.”

The momentum seen in the reinsurance market at renewals so far in 2023 is expected to continue at the mid-point of the year, with demand expected to be high and a number of key issues likely to be discussed, from pricing and terms, to catastrophe frequency and the impacts of secondary perils, according to Swiss […]

Despite writing more business at the April renewals this year, Berkshire Hathaway’s property catastrophe reinsurance book is “very unbalanced” according to Ajit Jain, with the giant insurance and reinsurance balance-sheet still significantly exposed to Florida hurricanes.

Florida’s property insurance carriers face a challenging final few weeks up to their main reinsurance renewal and some insurers are taking steps to lower their exposure through the restriction of coverage, or availability of their policies, we’re told.

US primary insurer Allstate has brought down the top of its Nationwide excess catastrophe reinsurance tower a little, at its latest renewal, with the program now only extending to $6.924 billion of losses, compared to $7.01 billion at the end of 2022.

The Florida insurance and reinsurance marketplace is “probably better” after the legislative changes that have occurred, although how impactful they will be remains uncertain and Swiss Re’s appetite for risk in the state sounds unlikely to increase significantly, according to comments by CFO John Dacey this morning.

Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re has continued to expand its business in the current hard market environment, reporting today that it has underwritten 5% more business in volume terms, at 19% higher prices on average, during the April renewal season.

The property catastrophe reinsurance market is “in a very attractive phase” and, for RenaissanceRe, reinsurance as a whole is currently seen as more attractive right now, with its CEO Kevin O’Donnell saying he expects this to be the case for the foreseeable future.

Nephila Capital, one of the largest insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund management operations in the market, is reported by its parent Markel to have had $7.2 billion in assets under management as of March 31st 2023.

Global reinsurance company SCOR has given an additional signal on the trajectory of US catastrophe reinsurance rates, citing 40% average rate-on-line increases achieved at the April renewals.