Ever tighter reinsurance renewal: Guy Carp calls 1.1 ’23 toughest yet

The January 2023 reinsurance renewals will prove every bit as strained as those seen over the past year as unbridled demand runs into ever-tighter offer, top leaders of  Guy Carpenter have claimed.

"We expect the 1.1 renewals to be equally challenging," Guy Carpenter CEO Dean Klisura (pictured) said at the outset of a briefing on reinsurance market conditions. It’s an ever-rising tide: markets had bemoaned conditions at 1.1 2022 only to find mid-year’s even tighter, officials said of the state of play.

The demand side remains an unabating story of increase, chairman David Priebe said. "Demand for reinsurance is expected to remain strong," Priebe told the briefing. A sense that risk protection is a requirement remains "pervasive."

But the supply side is proving increasingly problematic in the market equation, Guy Carpenter's global head of distribution Lara Mowery added. The running sum of cat losses have trimmed some appetites, eliminated others.

Reinsurers, who have parted ways as a group on strategy and nat cat appetite, approach every renewal with a fine-tooth comb, ready to sift out the outright loss-impacted accounts or other cedents showing cracks.

"In response to loss activity and emerging headwinds, reinsurers continue to present a shifting view of risk, therefore cedent differentiation remains particularly valuable," Priebe said.

"Overall, this is one of the most challenging and complex markets we've seen in years," Priebe said.

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