Written by Jasir Jawaid
The reinsurance market continues to remain challenging, and factors such as continued consolidation and persistent benign loss trends are driving down reinsurance rates, PartnerRe Ltd. President Emmanuel Clarke said on an earnings call Oct. 27.
"In the U.S., as we noted on last quarter's call, conditions are competitive across the board," he said.
While standard lines remain difficult, the company is seeing some positive signs of stabilization, although there is no real evidence of any movement yet on price.
The U.S. and international catastrophe markets also are very competitive, with rates continuing to soften, albeit at a slower pace, he said.
"In the global specialty lines family, where we write multiple lines of business, we continue to hold our position steady but there's no change in the competitive landscape," Clarke said on the call.
Although the standard international P&C market is "intensely competitive," PartnerRe is seeing new business opportunities in emerging markets, where it is focused on building its profile and footprint, which is offsetting deterioration in mature markets, he said. In those markets, the company does not foresee any growth in 2016.
"To summarize, market conditions have not improved and they are unlikely to improve in the near term," Clarke concluded.
Separately, interim CEO David Zwiener said PartnerRe's deal with EXOR remains on track for a first-quarter 2016 close and the process of securing regulatory approvals is running smoothly.
This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence on the S&P Capital IQ Pro platform.
Comments