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 97 Stefan Golling: If we don’t achieve our margins now why should we stay?
Ep 96 Patrick Tiernan Chief of Markets Lloyd‘s of London: A vision bound by logic
Special Episode: New Trillion dollar markets wherever you look. How insurtech can improve climate resilience with Robert Lumley and Stephen Brittain of The Insurtech Gateway
Ep 95 Jean-Paul Conoscente CEO Scor Global P&C: True partnership isn‘t about being accommodating
Ep 94 William Spiegel Executive Chairman R&Q: Prospering as the insurance ecosystem comes apart
Ep 93 Simon Matson of Gallagher and Tom Wakefield of Gallagher Re: A deal made by customers
Ep 92 Andreas Berger Swiss Re Corporate Solutions: Start early and do it quickly
Ep 91 Bob Kimmel CEO of K2 Insurance Services: On the hunt for talent and capacity
Special Episode: What the Polish market wants, with Michał Chmielewski and Tomasz Libront of Smartt Re
Ep 90 Javier San Basilio of Mapfre Re: Not opportunistic by definition
Ep 89 Jeff Radke CEO Accelerant Holdings: Searching for gems & avoiding landmines
Ep 88 Monica Cramer Manhem, President, International Reinsurance SiriusPoint: Using all the tools in the box
Special Episode: The Future of Underwriting with James Slaughter and Silvi Wompa Sinclair
Ep 87 Rod Fox & Rob Bredahl of TigerRisk: Don’t stop me now
Ep 86 Philip Smaje and Marcel Chad of Piiq Risk Partners: Specialty risks need specialty brokers
EP 85 Clive Washbourn CEO Navium: The market is always good
Ep 84 Keith Harrison International CEO Lockton Re: Going head to head with the bigger brokers
Special Episode: State of the Market Roundtable with Greg Hendrick, Marc Adee and Andrew Robinson
Ep 83 The $60bn broker: Olga Collins CEO Worldwide Broker Network (WBN)
Special Episode: The Power of Purpose with Steve Hearn CEO of Corant Global and Delta V Partners
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The emPOWERed Half Hour
NABOR® TALKS
U.S Property Podcast
Aligned Money Show
The Ramsey Show
Planet Money