Swiss Re still seeks nat cat: good for own books, even better for ILS

Swiss Re remains hungry for a deeper dive into nat cat exposures and would only trim a nat cat peril on its own books if another started looking even more attractive, officials told the Q2 earnings call.

“We do indeed see cat as an attractive area to go further,” chief underwriting officer Thierry Léger told the company’s Q2 earnings call.

Swiss Re claims to have benefitted from ongoing market hardening at the mid-year renewals “and feel that continued hardening will happen in the next eighteen months or so”, Leger said. “We are very optimistic with regard to the market.”

For its own balance sheet,  Swiss Re can find “headroom varying from very large to maybe less so”, Leger said. “It depends on the perils.” With attractive and adequately priced options on all sides, “some of the business might have to go to make room for even better business”.

Beyond the  Swiss Re balance sheet, buyers can easily be found, CFO John Daley added.

“The continued strength of our alternative capital partners gives us the opportunity to manage some peak risks by accessing retro markets,” Daley said.

Prices seem “elevated” versus the prior year period and Swiss Re is able to take margin vis-à-vis similar exposures on its own books, he claimed.

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