Peacock identified multiple factors contributing to the escalating insurance costs in California. “You’ve got more expensive real estate, you have more real estate built … into the fire zones, and then there are all manner of conditions and situations in California that make that even more challenging,” he said. He also highlighted the inflationary pressures driving up the costs of both homes and cars, making repairs and purchases more expensive. Furthermore, the risk of extreme weather events, such as wildfires, has increased, complicating the ability to set appropriate insurance rates in the state.
“As in other parts of the world, in Australia, too, insurance premiums for properties in high-risk areas – like flood-prone regions or bushfire zones – have skyrocketed and hundreds of thousands of homes could become ‘uninsurable’ by the end of the decade,” said Schanz, director of social and financial inclusion.
Neal’s leadership coincided with significant global challenges, including Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, inflationary pressures, and geopolitical uncertainties. He worked to address these issues while promoting the insurance industry’s role in supporting sustainability efforts, including climate change initiatives.
“So, being able to identify the markets that have the appetite, have the capacity, and are looking for ways to deploy it is probably one of my biggest tasks. And since joining Delos, we’ve had significant engagement with a number of partners already in the market but also possible future partners in the market.”
According to its report, non-loss-impacted property catastrophe renewals also saw notable reductions in the risk-adjusted reinsurance rate at January 1, with the rate reductions ranging from 5% to 15%. The reductions in rates, as well as additional capacity, reflected strong reinsurer appetite, which was driven by several factors, such as 2024 being a profitable year due to projected average returns on equity of 17.3%.
Specialty reinsurance in marine and energy, cyber, aviation and war, political violence, and terrorism lines benefitted from the strength of the results seen in underlying portfolios and ample capacity. However, the trade credit and political risk market were still facing capacity restraints as renewals saw modest changes to pricing and terms in excess-of-loss and pro rata programmes.
When it comes to the specialty market, there were changes seen in aviation, cyber, marine, energy, mortgage, credit and surety, and political violence and terror. The improvements in trading conditions and capacity gave buyers more power to negotiate but significant claims may impact previous reinsurance results and trading balances. This can limit the possible impact of supply and demand on pricing and terms.
Before joining Lockton Re, Veau spent 22 years at Aon, where she played a central role in the Strategic Advisory arm of the Capital Advisory team. Her focus included optimizing capital structures, navigating regulatory complexities, and advising on rating agency processes.
The roundtable will be the first of 14 Monday evening sessions in the “Special Topics in Insurance” course. Topics for the program include climate change, catastrophe reinsurance, cyber risk, captive insurance, collateralized reinsurance, life insurance, Bermuda’s ties to the Lloyd’s of London market, artificial intelligence, regulation, careers in re/insurance, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and runoff insurance.