Any move to increase rates on the basis of wider global market trends will be resisted: Benoît des Cressonnières, Allianz Trade

Any move to increase rates on the basis of wider global market trends will be resisted by Benoît des Cressonnières, the buyer for Allianz Trade and chief executive officer of Euler Hermes Reinsurance, part of Allianz Trade, on the basis that his business has been consistently profitable for some 14 years.

Allianz Trade, which brought Euler Hermes under its brand in March 2022, is an international insurance company that offers a range of services including trade credit insurance, debt collection, surety bonds and guarantees, business fraud insurance and political risk protection.

Des Cressonnières said his role has changed as part of Allianz. He is now working alongside the team at Allianz Re to align and improve the buying process. But his relationships with his reinsurers go way back—and he said he will not accept increased rates on the back of market conditions removed from his line of business.

“We believe the market for us should remain stable,” he said. “We have had a very low loss ratio for some 14 years and we have shared a lot of profit with our reinsurers in that period. “Even during the pandemic, and when there was a rebound of trade, we have exceeded expectations. So access to reinsurance capacity, we believe, should also remain stable.

“We see no justification for increasing the price. I understand there can be a global reaction to heavy losses but we feel we have the argument to push back on any rate increases. The last time we made a loss was in 2008 and even then our loss ratio was 80 percent.”

Allianz Trade currently has a panel of 13 to 15 reinsurers. It increased slightly last year because it needed additional capacity due to a specific deal—des Cressonnières said he works only with reinsurers that understand its specific area of business well.

“Capacity alone is not enough in what we do. We are a speciality business and reinsurers need to have an understanding of what we do,” he said. “Some of our relationships with reinsurers have been in place for 30 to 40 years.”