While traditional markets are increasingly viewed as a strategic tool rather than just a passive solution, and increasingly mature and sophisticated areas are emerging, participants in the Latest Reinsurance News Traditional Markets Roundtable, held in partnership with Swiss Re, stressed that the industry still has a predominantly passive nature.
The Reinsurance News Heritage Market Roundtable, held during the IRLA Conference in Brighton on 11 May 2026, is now available for free download.
The roundtable brought together 13 veterans from across the retrospective ecosystem, spanning acquirers, sell-sides, brokers, legal and advisory firms. During the 90-minute session, participants discussed topics such as the maturity of traditional markets, the impact of reinsurance market cycles, execution challenges, data quality and the outlook for the U.S. casualty business.
At the start of the discussion, Janic Schilling, Head of Heritage Origination at Swiss Re Property & Casualty Re, posed a question to the panel: “Are we really seeing a more strategic and embedded legacy market, or is the wider re/insurance industry still looking at legacy primarily as a tactical decision?”
Jag Jass, partner at Augment Risk, responded that while softening in rates has been evident in the real estate sector, major losses in the U.S. have been slow to progress. “I think legacies will definitely become a strategic tool, but still passive,” Jas said, adding that buyers and sellers are still figuring out how casualty insurance will evolve in recent years.
Charlotte Pritchard, UK chief executive of RiverStone International, made a similar point from a buy-side perspective: “I look at it from a buy-side perspective and it’s still quite passive,” she said, although she noted that the market has moved away from pure distress and towards capital planning and broader reserve protection.
Lu-ling Chng, managing director of global risk solutions at reinsurance brokerage Guy Carpenter, added: “There is some maturity and development across the board,” with some long-term global players on both the buy and sell side using legacy as a real strategic and capital tool, although this level of sophistication is not consistent across all cedants.
Participants also discussed execution challenges, including the need for greater participation from buyers of different deal sizes, the reasons why some deals fail to progress beyond the non-binding indication stage, and opportunities to improve deal structure. The dialogue also explored the importance of strengthening long-term carve-out relationships, highlighting areas where legacy markets still have room for growth.
Download a copy of the 2026 Reinsurance News Legacy Market Roundtable report, or read previous Reinsurance News Legacy and Execution Roundtable reports here.
