The global insurance and reinsurance markets are “all in this together” and as discipline and innovation drive relevance in an increasingly uncertain world, it’s vital that the industry has sustainable margins and responsible structures, and doesn’t forget past mistakes.
This is according to Jill Beggs, Executive Vice President, and CEO of Reinsurance, Everest, who spoke earlier today on Aon Reinsurance Solutions’ 2025 reinsurer panel, during which maintaining the relevance of the reinsurance product was debated.
“We are clearly in a heightened risk environment. Dieter touched on that $100 billion of insured cat losses in the first half of 2025, there’s geopolitical tension, there’s inflation. So, risks are not slowing, if anything, they’re accelerating, and I think anticipating tomorrow’s risk is certainly how the industry builds for the long term, and meeting clients where they are,” said Beggs.
“I would also say that when you talk about the relevance of the industry, I think it’s important to focus on closing the global protection gap, by extending meaningful coverage to those who are most vulnerable to this risk, and ensuring that they have protection they need to endure and recover… It’s more than being just a reinsurer, it’s building resilience in complex environments,” she added.
Expanding on this, Dieter Winkel, President, Liberty Mutual Reinsurance, said that the question of maintaining the relevance in this global environment is one he gets asked frequently.
“I would say the world is doing this on our behalf,” said Winkel. “Jill mentioned the $100 billion cat losses in the first half of the year. It’s not long ago, maybe five years ago, where this was the average annual cat burden. I know at the moment we talk about the sort of insured versus reinsured distribution, but it’s just a matter of time. We sell long-term products, we settle, we protect the 1-in-50, 1-in-100 type scenarios. So, we need to see this will develop further and further. And on top of that, we have terrorists, we have the geopolitical environment, we have the AI, the tech development. So, all we need to do, we as an industry, we need to prove that we can deal with this.”
To do this, Winkel emphasised the need for the market to be prepared to offer solutions, to think about innovation and how to capture the demand.
“It’s not about the short-term profit that you’re going to make in year one. The more volatility that we as an industry will take over, the more that will spread across multiple years. So, I think that is for us a very important point, that we constantly deal with future challenges that will come up, and they’re not going to reduce, they’re increasing,” he said.
The panel also included Miguel Rosa, CEO, Mapfre Re, who agreed with the comments from both Beggs and Winkel.
“What I would highlight here, is that in this uncertain world that we live and with all of these risks that we have around, I think it’s important to keep a very resilient industry. So, I think it’s important to keep our balance sheets strong so that we can face relevant risks.
“I would highlight as well that probably, in order to close this gap, as Jill was saying, probably it’s important to look for these private / public commitments so that we can help the governments to face all of these catastrophes that we are seeing around,” said Rosa.
The virtual panel session was moderated by Alfonso Valera, CEO of International for Reinsurance, Aon, and he further questioned panellists on their views to deliver value to clients as the key 1.1 2026 renewals approach.
“It’s a matter of understanding our clients’ needs,” said Rosa. “In the end, we think it’s important to talk to our clients to see exactly what they need. And in the end, at least, this is how we see our relationships. It is a matter of being consistent, being technical and being fair. So, we need to be there for our clients.”
Winkel expanded on this, putting himself in the shoes of a buyer of reinsurance at the renewals and questioning what he would want from a reinsurance partner.
“I would want to buy long-term coverage because of the casualty lines, but also, I want to protect my long lasting claims, the 1-in-50s, 1-in-100s. I want a reliable partnership, and I want someone who’s able to capture that and to go through that and to be open, reliable, but also responsive.
“And you’ve mentioned the harder market in 2023; we all remember that was a tricky time where people couldn’t really get final terms out from the reinsurers and even retrocessionaires. And I think we as an industry need to be professional enough to be able to do that. At least you need to be able to come up with a pricing to lead terms and conditions, and the market dynamic would change. So, currently, obviously we’re flooded with capacity. There’s lots out there, so we’ll probably have a point the other way around. But what you want is the long term, stable partnership that you can trade through with, because you are not a one quick shop this year and another shop next year. You really want to go through and develop partnerships with people who try to understand your business. So, that’s what I would expect as a buyer if I want to deal with a reinsurer, and as a reinsurer, that’s what we really want to offer,” he explained.
To conclude the discussion around relevance, Beggs said: “I would add to that also that we’re really all in this together, the primary market and the reinsurance market, where global relevance comes from discipline and innovation. And that’s a responsibility for all of us, and especially when there’s a lot of capital around, I think that discipline just becomes more important. And as an industry, I think we need sustainable margins and responsible structures, and we need to learn from our past mistakes. We can’t forget about past mistakes, and it does come down to discipline.
“And I think that’s how we build relevance. There’s an inherent societal mission to what we do, and anticipating tomorrow’s risks, and helping continue to build resilience is part of that mission.”
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