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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