Welcome to SIRC Today
While the 17th annual Singapore International Reinsurance Conference (SIRC) has been delayed for a year due to COVID-19, its organisers have instead launched SIRC 2020 Re-Mind, a virtual conference taking place this week.
The event has a full agenda of senior executives from the region commenting on the most pertinent issues of the day—all of which we are reporting on as usual in our annual newsletter SIRC Today.
Coverage of the virtual event will be complemented by interviews, news stories and reports from the region.
In the following pages, readers will find insight and news from industry leaders speaking at and around the virtual event.
As in previous years, we endeavour to bring our readers high-level market insights and ensure their fingers stay on the pulse of the re/insurance industry in these unprecedented times.
Wyn Jenkins, managing editor, Intelligent Insurer
A sneak preview: more exclusive content and interviews inside
Dichotomy in Asian markets: reinsurance rates harden but insurance remains flat
How the increase in reinsurance costs can be transferred to the direct market will make for an ‘interesting discussion’, Kenrick Law of Allianz Reinsurance tells SIRC Today.
As COVID-19 hits the balance sheets and capital positions of companies in Asia, industry professionals at virtual SIRC 2020 will be talking about what role reinsurance can play to help with exposure, capital management and other areas of the business.
However, according to Kenrick Law, regional chief executive and head of P&C client management at Allianz Reinsurance, discussions between reinsurers and clients might be more “interesting” than in other years as there are clearly some differences in the expectations around renewal outcomes.
“The interesting thing is the retro market has hardened. Then you see the reinsurance market has hardened to a different extent in different regions—in Asia-Pacific the direct market is still relatively competitive, so we’ll see whether the hardening retro and reinsurance markets will spill over into the Asian market going forward,” he told SIRC Today ahead of SIRC 2020 Re-Mind.
“The European and American markets have already experienced rate hardening on the direct side, but in Asia it is still pretty much flat, or a marginal increase. Hopefully we can see a bit of change in that.”
Asia approached the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic with the experience of the 2003 SARS outbreak fresh in its memory.
Law said that after the 2003 event, Allianz Re had reviewed policy wordings and coverage “and tried to make sure we didn’t pick up unnecessary exposures that we didn’t intend to cover anyway. So we’ve gone through that exercise,” he recalled.
A sneak preview: more exclusive content and interviews inside
A sneak preview: more exclusive content and interviews inside
Why the re/insurance industry failed to anticipate COVID-19’s P&C impact
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic looks set to be much more of a P&C shock than a life shock, according to Denis Kessler, chairman and chief executive officer of SCOR.
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic looks set to be much more of a P&C shock than a life shock, according to Denis Kessler, chairman and chief executive officer of SCOR.
Speaking at the SIRC 2020 Re-Mind virtual conference, taking place this week in place of the physical 17th Singapore International Reinsurance Conference, which has been rescheduled to November 2021, Kessler highlighted how unexpected this was within the industry.
“One distinct pattern is emerging from the H1 2020 earnings season of the industry: the overall estimated P&C insurance and reinsurance market exposure looks set to be several times greater than the overall estimated exposure for the life insurance and reinsurance market,” he said.
“COVID-19 related charges booked in H1 2020 by insurers and reinsurers globally, which total more than $20 million, are broken down as 90 percent P&C, and 10 percent life. So pure P&C players are faced with a COVID-19 impact whose magnitude is comparable to that of a major natural catastrophe.”
