Editor’s foreword
So good to see you again!
“The public statements and private whispers all point towards rate increases this coming January.”
After 18 months of ‘can you see me?’, ‘is my mic on?’ and ‘can you repeat that please, my connection broke up’, the industry is finally showing signs of returning to something resembling normality.
Over the past month the industry gathered face to face once more in Baden-Baden and APCIA, and with reports of in-person meetings becoming more the rule rather than the exception, we can all be grateful that the nadir of the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be behind us.
It’s just in time. This 1.1 renewal season promises to be among the most challenging the industry has seen for several years, with reinsurers in all markets making it abundantly clear that they cannot accept further rate declines after a year of heavy catastrophe losses combined with the turmoil of the pandemic.
The public statements and private whispers all point towards rate increases this coming January, and there is hope in some corners that this year will finally mark a turning point for the industry after five years of consecutively failing to meet its cost of capital.
It is one thing trying to renegotiate a multimillion-dollar contract with potentially significant price increases face to face—it is quite another over a dodgy Zoom connection.
For Bermuda, the horizon is looking even brighter. As the worst of the pandemic fades, there are signs the Island has emerged stronger than ever, with a host of new startups choosing to base themselves here and yet more capital coming into the market as investors hunt for yield amid an enduringly low interest rate environment.
Whether this narrative translates into reality as we move towards the hard-nosed renewal discussions remains to be seen.
In this issue, we look at the changing shape of the life reinsurance industry with coverage from BILTIR’s annual conference as well as a profile of one of the market’s largest and most singular players: Fortitude Re.
We have the latest from the Island’s insurtech scene with coverage of the Bermuda Business Development Agency’s Bermuda Virtual Tech Summit 2021, and exclusive interviews with some of Bermuda’s most senior executives including Kathleen Faries and Paul Brand.
We hope you enjoy the read.
Matt Neill, consulting editor, Bermuda:Re+ILS
Image Credit: Unsplash.com / Reilly Durfy, Shutterstock.com / Photo Smoothies
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