Ep194 1.1.2024 Renewals: It Feels Like The Time is Now

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

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