Welcome to Baden-Baden Today
This year’s Baden-Baden Reinsurance conference may not be going ahead, as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, but reinsurance professionals are still keen to discuss the hardening market, low interest rates and many of the other market changes wrought by the pandemic.
In lieu of the physical event, Intelligent Insurer has been attending virtual industry events, holding our own virtual discussions—available on the Re/insurance Lounge—and interviewing senior industry executives.
With so much going on around what would have been Baden-Baden week, we are publishing our regular newsletter Baden-Baden Today, which is usually distributed live at the event.
In its pages, readers will find insight and news from industry leaders who would otherwise have attended the event. As in previous years, we endeavour to bring our readers high level market insights in these unprecedented times.
Claire Churchard, deputy editor, Intelligent Insurer
A sneak preview: more exclusive content and interviews inside
New CEO at NewRe plans ‘evolution not revolution’
Thomas Braune, the newly appointed CEO of NewRe, may have been in post for only three weeks, but he already has a handle on how the company is doing and where he wants to take it, he tells Baden-Baden Today.
Braune took up the post of chief executive officer at NewRe on October 1, 2020, moving from Munich Re where he led the life and health reinsurance business in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
Braune has been in the industry for more than 30 years so it’s no surprise that he has big plans for the reinsurer.
But while he has some exciting ideas about growth, he is clear “there will be no revolution at NewRe, it’s more an evolution”.
There is no case for restructuring, he said, adding: “You have to grow based on your strengths, this is the story of NewRe.”
This makes sense: NewRe has been very successful over the past three years with a bottom line that has increased significantly each year. “It’s proof that the strategy is working,” he said.
The reinsurer’s strategy is based on four pillars: the traditional P&C business in Europe; Structured Re—structured business in P&C; Structured business in life; and Weather and agribusiness worldwide and with a focus in the US.
“The numbers prove that the strategy was successful in the last three years. This year, we now see the impact of COVID-19, like everybody else, so we will be affected by smaller double-digit million figures (in Swiss francs) and we will see it in the profit and loss sheets.”
The result for 2020 will not be as good as in previous years, Braune confirmed, but his response to this is that the reinsurer will have to manage the situation carefully.
A sneak preview: more exclusive content and interviews inside
A sneak preview: more exclusive content and interviews inside
COVID-19 adds unwanted shot to ‘heady cocktails’ for insurers
A good number of market-related issues were already starting to emerge before COVID-19 reared its ugly head, Brit Insurance’s Jehangir Kadan tells Baden-Baden Today.
For Brit Insurance, as for many in the re/insurance industry, the market conditions were already challenging—before the arrival of the global pandemic.
Kadan, a class underwriter at the firm, said that recent performance in the casualty market has been poor.
“There’s been a frequency of not insignificant losses in the market, ranging widely from the Samarco dam burst in Brazil, wildfire liabilities in California, shootings in Vegas MGM, the NiSource gas explosion in Massachusetts and more pervasive, broader subjects such as glyphosate-based weedkillers, potential exposures to matters emanating from Royal Commissions in Australia and cladding, and the opioid crisis as well.”
