Risk transfer industry concedes it is failing corporate buyers

The stance being taken by reinsurers in the run-up to renewals is usually a good indication of what might be in store for underlying insureds. As such, the Baden-Baden reinsurance meeting, held towards the end of October, is usually considered a bellwether for European corporations thinking about how much their own big risk programmes are going to cost.

But this year’s networking event kicked off with an animated panel discussion not about prices but rather how insurers and reinsurers are failing their big corporate customers.

Speaking on the sidelines of the symposium, which was hosted by Guy Carpenter, the reinsurance intermediary’s head of EMEA strategy, Chris Klein said that although catastrophes and alternative capital had dominated the headlines, insurers had other challenges.

“We thought companies ought to be more focused on finding profitable growth. That’s why we chose to look at how the industry could deploy its excess capital by widening the insurance market, Klein said.

At the symposium, panel speakers shared the view that the insurance and reinsurance industry felt challenged by the lack of premium growth, especially in mature markets.