Opportunities in North America

With India providing the bedrock for its operations in the region, GIC Re sees the wider Asia-Pacific region as the growth engine for both the world economy and its own aims, Devesh Srivastava of GIC Re told APCIA Today.

What growth opportunities does GIC Re see in North America?
As a reinsurer, GIC Re has for long been a dominant player in the Afro-Asian market, but with the growing stature of GIC as a global player the North American market was one that GIC would have to enter sooner rather than later.

GIC has been in the North American market for almost a decade and has a good book of business there which is diverse in nature consisting of property, marine, aviation and miscellaneous. In aviation, we write almost all the American airlines.

We also have our own Lloyd’s Syndicate which is doing good business in the continent. Lloyd’s has always been a big supporter of the North American market and our Syndicate will be no exception. In fact, even though the Syndicate business has just started, a good book has been built and will be further strengthened in future years.

In the coming years, GIC will look at growing this book profitably and making greater inroads in the North American market.

What other opportunities for growth do you see overseas?
We are an acknowledged brand in the Afro-Asian market for over three decades. As well as North and South America we need to strengthen our footprint in the EU and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) of the former Soviet Union (FSU).

For almost two decades, GIC Re has had its operations out of London. The branch writes the EU and the UK as part of its territorial jurisdiction and has a healthy book. We have built long-standing relationships with our cedants in the continent and in the UK and we intend to continue our growth in the market.

The continent business flows into the London Market and our presence there gives us the added benefit of seeing business from this source over and above what may come in directly from the continent. Our UK book is strong and we have been making our presence felt for long years now. The opening of our own Lloyd’s Syndicate has given further impetus to the writings from London.

We are very soon going to commence operations in Moscow where our representative office is being upgraded into a subsidiary and will be writing business from FSU and CIS countries as well as the business from Russia. This will give GIC a complete overview of the European market and we will strive to make GIC Re a better known brand going forward, offering cedants risk solutions and partnering with them in all aspects of their operations.

What is your biggest advantage when competing internationally?
We are a relationship-based company and have had long-standing associations with our cedants. This has been acknowledged by the market who value the long-term perspective that GIC Re brings to the table.

What are the biggest challenges you face?
As the global reinsurance industry digests the record losses of two consecutive years in 2017 and 2018, reassesses the relationship of climate change with changes in catastrophe behaviour, and settles down with the integration of alternative capital and traditional capital, the industry will seek a new mid-term equilibrium.

We at GIC Re are reassessing our stance in terms of risk appetite and management in this scenario of moving parts.

Devesh Srivastava is the general manager of GIC Re. He can be contacted at:  devesh@gicofindia.com