Today’s podcast carries on where we left off after the State of the Reinsurance Market Special Episode which was released after the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous of 2023.
At Monte Carlo what everyone said they wanted after the great re-set of a year ago was orderliness.
Buyers and sellers alike wanted a period of rational calm after the storm which could be used to clear some of the debris and to rebuild strained relationships.
And calm and rationality is what everybody got.
Reinsurance capital, profitability and crucially, confidence all recovered and we ended with a largely flat renewal overall.
The aim of this podcast is to see how this bodes for the year ahead and the longer-term strategic direction of the reinsurance market for those who work with it, buy from it and invest in it.
The big question is how long can the good times last for the newly-re-set and now highly profitable reinsurance world?
Have reinsurers hauled themselves up to a peak, only to start sliding quickly down the other rockface, or have they scaled up the side of a ridge onto a new highly profitable plateau upon which they will stay encamped for as long as they can?
To help me answer this, I have been able to speak to representatives from three of the top four reinsurance broking groups.
David Priebe, Chairman of Guy Carpenter (pictured left) and James Vickers Chairman of Gallagher Re International (middle) are two of the longest-serving senior executives in the business and David Flandro Head of Industry Analysis and Strategic Advisory at Howden Tiger (right) is one of the sector’s longest-tenured analysts.
They have all been providing insightful commentary on the industry for longer than I have been an insurance journalist and I have been interviewing them all for almost 20 years.
I really had fun with these three interviews and the subsequent time spent blending this highly accomplished and eloquent trio’s thoughts together.
It was a bit more work that usual, but I think it’s good value-added exercise and I hope you find it as useful as I did.
NOTES
Here are links to the reports and commentary I mentioned:
Howden Tiger - A New World
https://www.howdengroupholdings.com/sites/g/files/mwfley1156/files/2023-12/a-new-world-2024.pdf
Gallagher Re – What a Difference a Year Makes
https://www.ajg.com/gallagherre/news-and-insights/2024/january/what-a-difference-a-year-makes/
Guy Carpenter - January 1, 2024 Reinsurance Renewals Reflect a Motivated Market with Increasing Capital
https://www.guycarp.com/company/news-and-events/news/press-releases/january-2024-renewals.html
David Flandro mentioned Charlie Goldie, CUO of MS Re. He appeared prominently in both the 2022 and 2023 Monte Carlo Special Episodes – check the 2023 one out here:
https://thevoiceofinsurance.podbean.com/e/special-ep-the-state-of-reinsurance-2023/
ABBREVIATIONS
WACC = Weighted Average Cost of Capital
TIV = Total Insured Values
SPONSOR
We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:
https://www.advantagego.com/
Ep 65 Matthew Moore President Liberty Specialty Markets: Working for mutual advantage
Ep 64 Sean McGovern CEO of AXA XL UK and Lloyd’s: Re-set and re-launch
Ep 63 The broker of the future: Clyde Bernstein, Head of Broking, Willis Towers Watson GB
Ep 62 Fully capitalised, but rationally hard: the 2021 market with David Flandro of HX
Ep 61 A healing market: James Vickers, Chair Willis Re International
Ep 60 Fear breeds discipline, alignment and innovation: Talbir Bains CEO Volante Global
Ep 59 Jean-Jacques Henchoz CEO Hannover Re: Lean and keen
Ep 58 Talent and a willingness to take on risk: Julian James CEO International Insurance, Sompo International
Ep 57 Color outside the lines: Jim Stanard, Chairman Ariel Re
Ep 56 Like 2001, but completely different: Andrew Brooks CEO Ascot Group
Ep 55 Controlled aggression: Alex Maloney CEO of Lancashire Group
Ep 54 Taking a longer view: Eduardo Pérez de Lema CEO of Mapfre Re
Ep 53 No end game. The journey to Ithaka: David Howden CEO Howden Group Holdings
Ep 52 Vanessa Macdonald-Smith of Oneglobal broking: Putting people before numbers and enjoying the fun of the chase
Special Episode: Technical Debt and how to get out of it, with Bart Patrick of Duck Creek Technologies
Ep 51 David Walsh and Graeme Newman of CFC Underwriting: 20% organic growth forever
Ep 50 John Neal: Putting the Lloyd's halo back in place
Ep 49 Tim Turner: This is not a re-run of 85-86
Commonwealth Insurance Forum Special Episode 1: Insuring high-growth emerging markets with Inga Beale and Lesley Ndlovu
Ep 48 D&O: The hardest market of all time with David Ritchie of Gallagher UK
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