While markets and risks shift, reinsurance giant Munich Re’s commitment to disciplined underwriting, long-term partnerships and reliable capacity remains, according to Christa Schwimmer, Chief Executive for Specialty Reinsurance, Lloyd’s and Bermuda.
Schwimmer took on her current role at the beginning of last year, and overseas Munich Re’s Specialty Reinsurance platform, which covers the global marine, aviation, contingency, crisis management, and agriculture business for most parts of the world.
While her initial focus was getting to know the team and building alignment across these platforms, the focus has now firmly shifted to portfolio steering, underwriting quality, strategic client relationships, and making sure that the teams are positioned in a way that they can present Munich Re’s value proposition in all of the lines of business.
Against this backdrop and the dynamics of a softening reinsurance market environment, we spoke with Schwimmer at RVS 2026 in Monte Carlo about current sector conditions with a view to the specialty space.
Since the post 2022 market reset, softening has occurred in many lines of business, leading Reinsurance News to ask Schwimmer whether this is a shift to a sustainable pricing environment, or if the January 2027 renewal season is when discipline will really be tested?
“In a way, every renewal is a test, and January 2027 will be no different. There’s significant capacity looking for deployment, so there will be parts of the business where it’s about discipline being tested, but it’s not really about the headline rate movements. I think it’s much more around do we, as a marketplace, continue to insist on the right compensation for the risk and the uncertainty around it.
“I do see more willingness in some parts of the business to discuss on price, but not so much on the fundamentals like structures, coverage, and that probably depends on who you talk to,” she said.
Today’s reinsurance market is very competitive with ample capacity looking for opportunities. Importantly, though, Schwimmer is confident that the market isn’t going to give up everything it worked so hard to correct in 2023.
“I think what all of the teams are doing, not only across Munich Re but also many of our peers, is sharing what happened in various cycles. So, what was a structure that hurt us last time round and how to keep it sustainable. And to share also with the younger underwriters how it was when the previous soft market was here, as remember: some of the younger underwriters haven’t seen a soft market yet,” said Schwimmer.
The final point is an important one, as client expectations evolve with the cycle and the changing risk landscape. In light of this, we asked Schwimmer what cedents are looking for from their reinsurance partners beyond capacity and price?
“We just got our client survey back. It’s always hard to tell what clients want if you don’t ask them. What clearly came through there is that what matters most is the consistency in communication, the consistency in reliability. What they really want beyond capacity and price is that we’re there when the market turns. It’s easy to be there if the market is benign in a way. But I think this early strategic dialog, not being surprised at renewals, having a reliable, understandable risk appetite throughout the market cycle, that’s what we get a lot of recognition for, and also claims expertise. So, no matter which region you look at in our client survey, the claims expertise when it comes to the loss is rated the highest everywhere,” she said.
The conversation then moved to what emerging risks Schwimmer feels have the most potential to become a major class over the next five to 10 years.
“It’s probably early days, but seeing how well we did in the cyber market space, and what we’re setting now with early benchmarks and business opportunities in AI, that could potentially be an area where we see a projection going forward and creating a new class of business, within existing lines of business or potentially as dedicated AI solutions,” said Schwimmer.
Over the past decade, the cyber reinsurance market has matured greatly, but in terms of where the market is today, Schwimmer explained that the biggest opportunity is getting demand for cyber protection.
“Everyone talks about the cyber protection gap,” she said. “That’s clearly something we believe is the biggest business opportunity for insurance and reinsurance, and it really is also a responsibility that we have to take care of. That’s something we want to strive for.
“We’re flattered and proud of being the cyber reinsurer of the year for the 10th time now. This clearly motivates us to remain a leader in this market segment that we have been driving over the past years. Also, when things needed to be dealt with, like the cyber war topic a few years back. So, I think this is clearly something we believe and still grow in. But we do acknowledge that the growth has been flattening in between, and there has been some softening in different parts,” she said.
To end, Reinsurance News asked Schwimmer the key message she’d like clients to take away from Munich Re at the 68th edition of RVS.
“We are the same trusted partner in every phase of the cycle. Markets change, risks change, but our commitment to disciplined underwriting, long-term partnership, and reliable capacity does not,” said Schwimmer.
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