Jean-Paul Conoscente, CEO of French reinsurer SCOR Property & Casualty, said large European and some global insurers have taken advantage of reinsurance market dynamics to reduce the number of reinsurers in the core group at renewal on January 1, 2026.
Conoscente said during SCOR’s 1.1 2026 P&C Renewal Call that cedents are looking to limit their core groups to between seven and 10 to 12 reinsurers, to whom they place approximately 80% or more of their projects.
He explained, “These clients see that as a benefit. It’s still good competition because you have a large number of players, but if there’s a specific loss, it’s easier to build a broad relationship overall on a limited number of terms if there’s discussion around wording and things like that.”
Conoscente noted that by 2023, when markets harden and capacity is scarce, clients will choose as many reinsurers as possible.
“Now, as we move into a market with larger capacity supply, they want to go back and rationalize their panels a little bit,” he said.
Conoscente added: “SCOR benefits greatly from this movement because we can provide broad coverage across business lines, across geographies, and meaningful capacity. So we benefit from this movement on January 1st.”
During the call, Conoscente also commented on the adequacy of the 1.1 catastrophe price, saying the results were very much in line with SCOR’s expectations.
“We believe Cat’s price adequacy is very high, not just because of pricing but also because of the structural changes that have occurred since 2023 and have remained stable since then. So we think Cat is a business line that remains highly attractive despite the 1.1 change in pricing,” he said.
SCOR also disclosed reinsurance renewal results for January 2026, reporting growth in the selective portfolio amid a competitive pricing environment. In the traditional property and casualty reinsurance business, SCOR’s EGPI increased by 7.4% to 2.848 billion euros.
