NewRe grows its business on reputation for stability

NewRe CEO Renate Strasser said she didn’t see any reason why rates would go down, in fact it is likely to be “rather the opposite”.

Speaking to Baden-Baden Today she said there is a lot of macroeconomics behind this, adding: “It is obvious that the retro market is hardening too.”

NewRe writes fundamentally in P&C and Strasser said the reinsurer always tries to grasp opportunities, especially with existing clients.

“We have no specialist business that we really want to grow but of course we want to make sure we find enough profitable business.

“In general, we see a lot of interest for structured deals and we concluded some deals to retro deals, which is very positive, so protecting the P&L side and balance sheets. Here at NewRe we are quite active.

“This is one of the areas where we have been quite strong in the past and is maybe a growth area as well,” she said.

This has been driven by demand from clients, she said.

Strasser added that on the structured side they do a lot of discussions with clients but there are certain fields where the firm’s parent company, Munich Re, is “better equipped” to deal with certain topics, for example cyber.

NewRe became part of the Munich Re group in the 1980s. Earlier this year it said it was planning to benefit from changing markets as part of its strategy for treaties and P&C, especially with so much M&A still going on.

In addition, demand for NewRe’s services has increased as clients look for reliability and stability, core values at the reinsurer in an uncertain world, she said.

The company’s diversified product portfolio combined with financial strength and an experienced team of 120 in Zurich ensures that NewRe remains a steady partner for its clients, she concluded.

Previously NewRe announced that it had closed its 2018 financial year “very positively” with the premium volume rising from Swiss Francs (CHF) 4.3 billion in 2017 to CHF 5.3 billion in 2018. At CHF 133.4 million, NewRe’s overall 2018 result compares favourably to the previous year’s figure of CHF 128 million.