Andreas Berger, CEO of global reinsurer Swiss Re, said he expected mid-year reinsurance renewals to see similar trends to January and April, with strong demand and continued pricing pressure, while stressing that Swiss Re would continue to focus on portfolio quality rather than quantity.
During Swiss Re’s first quarter 2026 results conference call, Berger emphasized that the renewal work has generally progressed as expected.
He noted, “With the renewals in January and April, we successfully defended our market position and relevance and, importantly, maintained underwriting discipline and terms and conditions. This is critical for us.”
Looking ahead to the mid-year renewal, Berger emphasized that the company’s focus on prioritizing portfolio quality over quantity remains unchanged, while noting that competition has increased, particularly in the non-proportional natural cat space.
He said: “You will continue to see us apply discipline and cycle management. Depending on the development of loss events, we expect similar trends in June and July. This means that demand is high, but price pressure continues.
“So, at this point, you should not expect us to increase volumes. We will continue to focus on defending the overall price adequacy and quality of our portfolio.”
During the call, Berger was also asked if there were any leaks about the terms and conditions.
He responded: “I think we’ve been very clear that the terms and conditions, the structure, remain stable. We’ve also heard of individual cases where volume suddenly became a topic again, but we’re going to be disciplined and remain very cautious here. We don’t see any reason why that should be supported.”
Berger continued: “We’re also hearing from primaries and from certain individuals that rates are going down in certain markets, particularly in the economic and social sectors, and I can assure you here that we’re watching the whole situation. We’re reinsuring some of that, and that’s why we’re very concerned here.”
“I can assure you, on the CorSo side, we have very limited activity and exposure there, mainly in the real estate space, and the revenue from that space is very low, about $200 million. So, we are watching it, obviously as a leading reinsurance market, but we are being very cautious.”
