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Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter has updated its property catastrophe reinsurance rate on line indices today and the latest data shows that after the April and mid-year renewals, property cat reinsurance rates have fallen 8.1% globally, 6.7% in the United States and a more significant 15.9% in the Asia Pacific region.

Recall that, these indices for property catastrophe reinsurance rates and pricing largely fell at the start of the year.

The January 2025 declines were the first since 2017 for all of the indices, except for Asia Pacific, where after a rebasing and re-evaluation of the data for the rate-on-line (RoL) Index for that region, Guy Carpenter’s data showed a decline occurred there in 2024 as well.

Now, the declines have continued and accelerated in all cases after Guy Carpenter has incorporated the market data from the mid-year June and July reinsurance renewals into its indices.

First, the Guy Carpenter Global Property Catastrophe Rate on Line Index, which is its proprietary index of global property catastrophe reinsurance Rate-on-Line movements, on brokered excess of loss placements, that has been maintained by the broker since 1990.

The Global Property Catastrophe Rate on Line Index fell by 6.6% at the January 1 2025 renewals, which was its first decline since 2017.

Now, after including market data from the mid-year renewals, this Global index is now down 8.1% for 2025 to-date.

Despite these declines, this Global index of property catastrophe reinsurance rates and pricing is still higher than all years running from 2006 to 2023.

Notably, this Index of global property catastrophe reinsurance pricing is still 57% higher than its last low in 2017, reflecting still strong and attractive pricing in reinsurance.

Alongside the firm terms, conditions and attachments, this is why catastrophe reinsurance remains so attractive at this time, despite now two years of softening from its highs.

You can analyse the Guy Carpenter Global Property Rate on Line Index using our interactive chart:

Next, the Guy Carpenter U.S. Property Catastrophe Rate on Line Index, which measures US property catastrophe reinsurance Rate-on-Line movements, on brokered excess of loss placements, and tracks the data back to 1990 as well.

This index for United States property catastrophe reinsurance rates and pricing had fallen by 6.2% at 1/1 2025, which was the first decline for this index since 2017 as well.

Now, following the 6/1 and 7/1 reinsurance renewals at the mid-year, the Guy Carpenter U.S. Property Catastrophe Rate on Line Index is down a little further at a 6.7% decline for 2025 so far.

For this US index of property catastrophe reinsurance rates, the Index is still up by a significant 93% since its low in the soft market year of 2017.

You can analyse the Guy Carpenter U.S. Property Rate on Line Index using our interactive chart:

Turning to the Asia Pacific region, Guy Carpenter’s APAC property catastrophe reinsurance rate-on-line index tracks the same property catastrophe reinsurance Rate-on-Line movements, on brokered excess of loss placements, for this part of the world.

In Asia Pacific (APAC), property catastrophe reinsurance rates fell by 7.2% at January 1st 2025. As we explained, the APAC index had been rebased by Guy Carpenter to show it had declined for full-year 2024 as well.

Including the April reinsurance renewal data, as of July this APAC property cat ROL index is now down by 15.9% in 2025.

Since its most recent low, this APAC index of property catastrophe reinsurance rates on line is now only up by 19.5% since 2018.

You can analyse the Guy Carpenter Regional Property Rate on Line Index using our interactive chart:

Guy Carpenter explains on its Indices, “Rate on line (ROL) is the cost of reinsurance per dollar of limit. The calculation of ROL is reinsurance premium as a percentage of limit. Each Guy Carpenter ROL index is a measure of the change in dollars paid for coverage year on year on a consistent program base. Each index reflects the pricing impact of a growing (or shrinking) exposure base, changes in buying habits and the way risk is measured, as well as changes in market conditions. Unlike risk-adjusted measurements, each index is not dependent on the model or method used to measure the amount of perceived risk in a program, which can vary widely.”

Overall, property catastrophe reinsurance rates-on-line are still sitting at attractive levels, especially for the United States and other regions, while APAC has clearly softened fastest but remains well above its last trough.

Combined with the changes to attachments and terms that have proven to be sticky, this can still make for a very profitable environment to enter the reinsurance market for capital providers and investors.

Read all of our reinsurance renewals coverage here.

Property cat rates down 8.1% globally, 6.7% in US, 15.9% in APAC in 2025: Guy Carpenter was published by: www.Artemis.bm
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A bank transfer has been highlighted in an ongoing Vesttoo fraud legal case, showing $4 million in funds sent to a China Construction Bank account in the name of Yu Po Holdings, the entity that was purported to have been the main investor providing collateral behind reinsurance deals where letters of credit (LOC) proved to be forged.

In recent court filings from Aon’s segregated accounts company White Rock Insurance (SAC) Ltd.’s New York lawsuit against China Construction Bank (CCB) over the Vesttoo fraud, this bank transfer has been highlighted as providing evidence that CCB must have further documentation of relevance to the case.

Aon’s White Rock entity filed this lawsuit in New York against China Construction Bank back in August 2024.

As we reported recently, Aon’s case raised the emergence of a criminal bribery case in Hong Kong against a former CCB employee, suggesting it means CCB must have relevant communications and documentation that would support its own claims against the bank and asking for the right to perform discovery to be granted.

That Hong Kong bribery case accuses the former China Construction Bank employee of accepting payments in a crypto currency amounting to US $470,000 from a Vesttoo employee, to authenticate false letters of credit and collateral documentation.

Now, the latest evidence provided to the court by law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, on behalf of plaintiff White Rock, is of a bank transfer that it believes has relevance to the case and further demonstrates that CCB must have internal documentation which might further support the plaintiff’s claims.

The law firm’s letter to the court states, “White Rock became aware of a new document further evidencing that CCBA and the other Defendants are in the exclusive possession of facts which the Court might consider to be essential to the issue of personal jurisdiction over CCBA. This document further supports White Rock’s alternative request for jurisdictional discovery.”

The letter continues, “Specifically, White Rock learned of a bank transfer confirmation evidencing that Vesttoo’s largest investor, Yu Po Holdings, maintained a bank account in CCBA and was thus a customer of CCBA. The bank transfer confirmation shows that a certain Vesttoo investor transferred $4 million to Yu Po Holdings’ bank account at CCBA in July 2023.”

The letter goes on to state that this document, a bank transfer confirmation slip, shows that Yu Po Holdings, supposedly the largest investor backing Vesttoo linked reinsurance deals, was “an authentic customer” of CCB and received payments into this account “as a result of the CCB LOCs.”

Continuing, “Accordingly, there is reason to believe that CCBA and the other Defendants are in the exclusive possession of further documents and communications evidencing that CCBA obtained benefits as a result of the CCB LOCs. There is further reason to believe that CCBA and the other Defendants are in the exclusive possession of additional documents and communications regarding the CCB LOC and Vesttoo frauds and the involvement of CCBA’s customers and employees in the same.”

For reference, CCBA is China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation Limited within the court filings.

The law firm’s letter states that these additional findings provide further evidence that former CCB employee Lam’s actions benefited CCBA and its customers, “and should thus be attributed to CCBA for purposes of specific personal jurisdiction.”

It also states that these facts provide more evidence that CCBA’s business in New York, including through Lam, gave rise to White Rock’s claims. Recall that CCB claims the court in NYC has no jurisdiction in the case.

The bank transfer confirmation slip has been presented in a filing as evidence and recall that the law firm’s letter stated it “shows that a certain Vesttoo investor transferred $4 million to Yu Po Holdings’ bank account at CCBA.”

The transfer confirmation shows the $4 million as coming from an account in the name of Matag Investments Ltd. Matag, as we’ve explained before, was a participant in one of Vesttoo’s equity funding rounds.

Matag was also a limited partner in of one of the debtor structures under the Vesttoo bankruptcy case, a vehicle named Vescor Bay L.P. which had been exposed to the fraud.

Just recently, Matag entered into a settlement with the Vesttoo bankruptcy trust, alongside another company M. Arkin
(1999) Ltd., and Matag received a small $299,999 settlement from the reserves held for Vescor Bay, as it held some rights to the remaining funds.

As we reported in January 2024, Matag Investments purchased a 23% interest in Vescor LP from YuPo for a purchase price of $4 million, so that may explain this specific transaction confirmation from the bank records now filed with the NY court case.

Recall that Yu Po was named relatively early on in the Vesttoo bankruptcy saga, but it’s worth noting that Chinese investor YuPo Holdings, Ltd. was also documented as the sole limited partner of Vescor LP, at least to begin.

As we had reported back in August 2023, information revealed a missing piece of the puzzle related to the invalid or fraudulent letter of credit (LOC) issues affecting Vesttoo facilitated collateralized reinsurance deals, with this Hong Kong investor group named Yu Po named as a target for pre-trial discovery.

We were told that Yu Po Holdings and another company Yu Po Finance were entities of the main investor behind all of the reinsurance LOCs that were found to be invalid.

While, sources had told us that Yu Po Holdings was the main investor entity behind the majority of the Vesttoo-facilitated reinsurance deals where China Construction Bank (CCB) was said to have provided the letters of credit (LOC) to support them, those LOCs now turning out to have been forged.

Yu Po Holdings was supposed to have been the provider of collateral in the reinsurance transactions in question, while CCB issued the LOCs to guarantee this. We were also told at the time that Yu Po, or its representative, had been through certain KYC checks.

So this payment from Matag to Yu Po’s CCB bank account is purported to show that this investor behind the fraudulent LOC collateral had an active account with and so was a client of China Construction Bank. Hence the claim from the Aon White Rock case legal team that this shows that further documentation and evidence may be held by the bank that could be relevant to its claims.

Which adds further weight to the calls for jurisdictional discovery to be performed, to allow documentary and communication-based evidence to be submitted to the court for analysis.

One further new development in the White Rock and CCB lawsuit, is that CCB has responded through its legal team, with a memorandum of law in support of dismissing White Rock’s claims against the bank.

In this filing, CCB continues to claim that its entities accused in the case are not subject to general jurisdiction in New York, that White Rock fails to state its claims and that they fail. It does not, however, make reference to this latest filing of the bank transfer, rather sticking to its guns that the New York court does not have jurisdiction over it and that White Rock’s claims miss the mark.

The case seems likely to continue for some time, with both parties sticking to their guns. But it will be interesting to see how the court responds to the raising of this bank transfer to Yu Po’s account.

Read all of our coverage of the alleged fraudulent or forged letter-of-credit (LOC) collateral linked to Vesttoo deals.

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Members Capital Management Limited (MembersCap), the Bermuda-regulated investment manager, launched its first tokenised insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund, MCM Fund I on the Archax digital asset exchange, marking a notable milestone in bridging institutional reinsurance and blockchain-based finance.

Earlier this month, MCM Fund I successfully completed the investment of its initial portfolio.

The trades were executed with leading global reinsurers and major Lloyd’s of London syndicates, sourced through the top three global reinsurance brokers.

As we explained in our previous article, MCM Fund I represents a pioneering approach to reinsurance investing, leveraging blockchain technology to reduce entry barriers, and making a traditionally exclusive, high-yield asset class accessible to a broader range of investors, including digital asset allocators.

“Reinsurance – ‘insurance for insurance companies’ – is fundamentally uncorrelated with the broader financial markets and as an asset class has consistently outperformed most traditional alternatives over the past two decades. Despite these attractive qualities, high barriers to entry have meant the sector has largely remained the preserve of pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, and other large institutional investors,” MembersCap said.

Working together with Archax, MembersCap states that it aims to expand this access by harnessing blockchain technology to lower these barriers and offer unique opportunities to investors seeking stable, diversified income streams to support more balanced portfolios and enhance overall returns.

MembersCap’s partnership with Archax is reportedly the first of several collaborations that the investment manager has planned for this year, as the firm looks to expand its footprint across both traditional and Web3 financial markets.

Lloyd Wahed, CEO and Co-Founder of MembersCap, commented: “MembersCap partnering with a digital marketplace like Archax is an exciting next step for us that increases our ability to provide a new group of investors access to institutional-grade reinsurance exposure. We’ve been impressed with the caliber of institutional funds like BlackRock, Fidelity, Aberdeen and others that Archax has curated and we’re humbled to be the first emerging fund sat alongside them.”

Graham Rodford, CEO and Co-Founder of Archax, said: “MembersCap were looking for a partner to work with on the tokenisation, custody and distribution for their tokenised reinsurance fund. Digital asset innovation is exactly what Archax is all about, and we’re delighted to be providing these services to them and adding further yield-bearing digital instruments to the Archax platform.”

Jeremy Williams, Head of Digital Strategy and Compliance at MembersCap, added: “Tokenisation and digital assets sit at the heart of our offering.  Harnessing the energy and potential of on-chain finance, while meeting and exceeding the expectations of our regulators and our partners, is a vital part of our success. Archax’s technical acumen enables us to offer a full-suite service to our investors.”

Members Capital lists its first tokenised ILS fund on Archax digital asset exchange was published by: www.Artemis.bm
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According to global reinsurance firm Swiss Re, inflation adjusted exposure to natural catastrophe losses is set to continue growing at a faster pace than insurance premiums around the world, which will drive the expanding protection gap even wider over the coming years.

In a new sigma report on global insurance and economic growth, Swiss Re notes that the US tariffs are set to slow both down.

The unstable policy environment and slowing economic growth means that both life and non-life insurers are expected to see slowing premium growth over the next few years, the reinsurance company reports.

Reduced trade and heightened uncertainty in the currently volatile political landscape will reduce spending and investment, with some of this not fully visible in the economic data yet, Swiss Re warns.

The Swiss Re Institute’s World Insurance sigma report states that global GDP growth (inflation adjusted) is expected to slow to 2.3% in 2025 and 2.4% in 2026, from 2.8% in 2024.

As a result and with ramifications for reinsurance capital providers, the global insurance industry is expected to follow this trend.

Swiss Re’s report forecasts that total insurance premium growth is expected to slow to 2% this year, from 5.2% in 2024, after which it may pick up slightly to 2.3% in 2026.

Jérôme Haegeli, Swiss Re’s Group Chief Economist, commented, “While insurers’ profitability outlook is still benefiting from rising investment income, we expect tariffs to slow global GDP growth, and consequently weigh on insurance demand. In the long term, US tariff policy is another move towards more market fragmentation, which would reduce the affordability and availability of insurance, and so diminish global risk resilience.”

While insurance premium growth will slow, the profitability outlook for the global insurance industry remains stable, Swiss Re believes.

Swiss Re Institute forecasts 2% year-on-year total insurance premium growth in 2025 and 2.3% in 2026, roughly half the growth seen in 2024.

The reinsurer explained, “In non-life insurance, intensifying competition in personal lines and softening market conditions across commercial lines, are driving significantly lower premium growth, down to 2.6% this year from 4.7% in 2024. After delivering 6.1% premium growth in 2024, life insurance will slow significantly to 1% as interest rates moderate, with growth to improve to 2.4% in 2026. At the same time, insurers’ profitability outlook remains positive due to continuing gains in investment income.”

Swiss Re’s new sigma report looks at the global insurance protection gap which it states has been widening in recent years.

Emerging markets suffer from the largest protection gaps, with the current geopolitical and economic fragmentation that is being seen potentially set to affect these regions further, Swiss Re said.

“We estimate that global protection gap across all perils reached USD 1.83 trillion (in premium equivalent terms) in 2023 as more than 40% of all crop, health, mortality and natural catastrophe exposures were unprotected or uninsured. The global total protection gap has grown by a cumulative 43% since 2013,” the reinsurance firm explained.

With insurance premium growth set to slow, it’s worth noting that Swiss Re reports that on the natural catastrophe front exposure will rise at an even faster rate than premiums going forwards.

Inflation-adjusted exposure growth is forecast to continue rising at a 5‒7% CAGR, Swiss Re says, far outpacing premiums.

This will drive a widening of the protection gap for natural catastrophe exposure, it seems.

But, alongside this exposure growth the insurance and reinsurance markets are resetting to a more volatile catastrophe loss environment, which Swiss Re believes will help to slow the current market softening that is being seen.

Swiss Re said, “We expect a soft market in personal and commercial lines over 2025 and 2026, underpinned by strong industry return on equity (ROE). Combined with an uncertain economic outlook, this may cause greater competition for insurance market share, putting further pressure on rates. Stronger investment income could further drive price competition. However, certain trends may put a floor under rate softening, for example tariff-driven claims uncertainty and above-trend natural catastrophe losses.”

Other highlights from the sigma report of relevance to our insurance-linked securities (ILS) market community are around property insurance, particularly in the United States.

Notably, Swiss Re says that, “Higher tariff-driven intermediate goods costs, machinery and commodities could cause higher claims severity in US commercial property, homeowner insurance and engineering lines.”

While also cautioning that, “The tariffs are likely to have their greatest inflationary impact around the third quarter of this year, the same time as the peak Atlantic hurricane season. This may amplify post-event cost increases and further boost claims severity.”

Something to watch out for through this wind season, as these possible inflationary effects from tariffs have likely not been priced into the reinsurance or ILS market at this stage.

On property insurance in general, Swiss Re’s report states, “Premium growth should moderate to 2.4% in 2025 (2024: 5.4%), largely due to the softening of commercial property rates. The homeowners’ segment is a prominent exception, due to persistent cost inflation and US natural disaster losses. Reforms in some European countries to make natural catastrophe covers mandatory, and changes in US infrastructure and industrial policy will likely add additional demand for commercial property in 2025 and 2026.”

Catastrophe exposure growth to keep outpacing insurance premiums: Swiss Re was published by: www.Artemis.bm
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Despite the fact property catastrophe reinsurance rates have moderated somewhat, analysts at Jefferies said the market remains attractive and they do not classify it as soft given pricing remains above 2022 levels at this time.

Commenting on the property catastrophe reinsurance market after the mid-year 2025 renewals, the Jefferies equity analyst team highlight the influx of capital that helped to moderate pricing and make renewal outcomes more favourable for buyers.

“Increased capital deployed outpaced rising demand (estimated at ~10% increase in limit purchased) as increased capacity from newly formed reinsurers/syndicates/ILS funds more than offset incremental purchasing by cedants,” the analysts explained.

They highlight the very strong catastrophe bond issuance seen to-date, which as we explained recently has led to a new annual record being set by Artemis’ data.

Larger transactions and new sponsor entrants have helped to drive the catastrophe bond market to its record highs, but the Jefferies analyst team also think pricing remains attractive here despite some softening being seen.

“Despite larger transactions and new entrants in the market, CAT bond spreads, or pricing, have come in slightly since 1Q25 but are stable with 4Q24,” they explained.

While rates-on-line have fallen across many catastrophe reinsurance renewals this year, the analysts continue to see value in the sector for underwriters.

“Despite moderating rates, we believe property CAT returns remain attractive and do not view the market as soft given pricing is above 2022 levels,” the Jefferies team wrote.

Adding that, “Further, returns in Florida remain favorable despite pricing pressures relatively recent given tort reform.”

Jefferies analysis aligns with our recent article on a Peel Hunt report, which concluded that the inflection point into a full soft reinsurance market remains two to three years away.

Read all of our reinsurance renewal news coverage.

Property cat reinsurance rates remain attractive, market not yet soft: Jefferies was published by: www.Artemis.bm
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News continues to emerge that reflects the increased availability of aggregate reinsurance protection, as an analyst report shows Italian insurance and financial services group Unipol secured a planned €300 million aggregate reinsurance treaty to better protect it against smaller catastrophes and weather losses.

Aggregate catastrophe protection, to provide reinsurance for smaller catastrophe and weather losses on an accumulating loss basis, has been a more challenging product to source for a few years.

As the reinsurance market hardened after 2022, appetite to deploy limit to cover aggregate losses diminished, while the cost of aggregate reinsurance and retrocession covers also rose.

But, in 2025, these covers have become more available and affordable as well, with the catastrophe bond market one leading source of annual aggregate protection once again.

While at the same time, European protection buyers have also found reinsurers and ILS capital more accommodating for buying aggregate reinsurance from.

We reported back in May that during an earnings call General Manager of Insurance at Unipol, Enrico San Pietro, said that the company was aiming to buy a new aggregate reinsurance arrangement this year.

Now, in an analyst report from Berenberg, details of that purchase have been revealed.

The Berenberg analysts, after holding a speed-dating event with numerous re/insurers present, explained that Unipol executives said that the aggregate cat reinsurance cover will provide €300 million of limit.

The agreement was signed in May and attaches once aggregate losses surpass a €350 million retention, it is reported.

It’s also said that the aggregate cover only protect Unipol for weather and catastrophe events that cost it less than €100 million, while its main catastrophe reinsurance treaty will continue to provide the protection for larger events than that.

The Berenberg analysts report that Unipol’s new aggregate reinsurance treaty covers weather and smaller cat losses to both its motor and non-motor books of business.

While this is further evidence of the appetite to deploy capacity to aggregate covers recovering, other companies at the Berenberg event highlighted that capital remains disciplined, with high deductibles enforced and only relatively low limits available.

Aggregate reinsurance and retrocession has always been considered more of an earnings than capital cover, protecting the ability of re/insurers to hit their profit targets even when frequency loss events are prevalent throughout the financial year.

As a result aggregate protection remains a very attractive buy and we’ve seen plenty of aggregate cat bonds issued this year, especially in industry-loss trigger retrocessional form for large reinsurance companies.

We’ve also reported on aggregate reinsurance purchases that have come to light from global insurer Zurich and Bermuda-based reinsurance firm Conduit Re.

In the outstanding catastrophe bond market, just under 40% of limits currently at-risk are deployed to provide aggregate reinsurance protection.

But in the last few months, the prevalence of aggregate deals has increased a little, further signalling recovering appetites to deploy capacity and capital to these opportunities, which is being supported by attachments and prices remaining relatively stable and attractive still.

Of course, the greater availability of aggregate reinsurance has been a trend we’ve followed for some months, with notably more reinsurance capital available to support well-structured aggregate deals towards the end of 2024, which led reinsurance buyers to become more hopeful as we moved towards 2025.

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Members Capital Management Limited (MembersCap), the Bermuda-regulated investment manager has completed the investment of its initial portfolio through its fund, MCM Fund I, the first tokenised institutional-grade reinsurance fund designed to open new capital channels to both digital asset investors and traditional allocators.

MCM Fund I represents a pioneering approach to reinsurance investing, leveraging blockchain technology to lower entry barriers and bring a traditionally exclusive, high-yield asset class to a broader range of investors.

The fund’s initial portfolio trades were executed with leading global reinsurers and major Lloyd’s of London syndicates, sourced through the top three global reinsurance brokers.

Reinsurance has historically been reserved for large institutional players like pension plans and sovereign wealth funds, due to its complex nature and high capital requirements. However, MembersCap’s tokenised model aims to democratise access, enabling a rapidly growing pool of investors, such as crypto-native institutions, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals, to participate alongside established players.

Lloyd Wahed, Co-Founder and CEO of MembersCap, commented: “Every generation is presented with new technologies that unlock economic opportunity. To us, tokenisation and the blockchain represent access to better asset management for a different class of investor. We’re excited to be one of the first institutional funds to emerge from this space.”

Backed by prominent blockchain protocols including Solana, Aptos, Cardano, and Base, and supported by institutions such as Coinbase, Archax, Apex Group, and Envelop Risk, MembersCap has built a platform that allows qualified investors to deploy eligible cryptocurrencies into reinsurance contracts.

In addition, the fund has also been named the first in the real-world assets category on the Archax platform, joining tokenised offerings from major financial institutions like BlackRock, State Street, and Aberdeen.

Patrick Barrett, Co-Founder and COO of MembersCap, said: “Our investors—digital asset institutions, family offices, and HNWIs—want to meet their goals of resiliency and long-term sustainable growth through new and more efficient means. With this novel approach, we’re seeing these investors view reinsurance as a core part of their portfolio for the first time.”

Moreover, the benefits of reinsurance as an asset class lie in its low correlation with traditional financial markets and its consistent outperformance over the last two decades.

However, by unlocking access through tokenisation, MembersCap provides a regulated, collateralised pathway for qualified investors to gain direct exposure to natural catastrophe and cyber reinsurance contracts sourced from blue-chip global partners.

Dr. Benjamin Fox, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of MembersCap, added: “This launch proves that tokenisation can bring new capital to help address the growing insurance protection gap by lowering barriers and providing access to the private reinsurance market.

He continued: “Our tokenised model enables a new cohort of investors to participate pari passu alongside large institutions in an uncorrelated asset class with a track record of reliable, attractive returns.”

Positioned as an alternative to private equity, venture capital, and fixed income strategies, MCM Fund I also offers Web3 treasuries, foundations, and institutions a combination of high-yield opportunities and structured liquidity derived from real-world reinsurance returns, without the volatility risks commonly seen in DeFi and altcoins.

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The global reinsurance sector has entered the second half of 2025 with strong momentum, driven by a potent mix of capital inflows, favourable underwriting conditions, and robust investor returns, according to reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter.

Despite ongoing global economic volatility and insured losses nearing $70 billion through the first half of the year, the renewal trends seen at January 1 have largely continued, according to Marsh McLennan’s global risk and reinsurance specialist.

Although the first quarter of 2025 saw elevated loss activity, driven largely by the $40 billion in insured losses from the Los Angeles wildfires, insured loss activity moderated in the second quarter. As a result, aggregate losses are now flat compared to the inflation-adjusted five-year average.

Despite these events, reinsurers absorbed the impact without meaningful capital impairment. The sector ended 2024 with a record $607 billion in capital, and growth of 5% to 7% is forecast by year-end 2025.

In addition, reinsurer returns on equity were reportedly 16% in 2024 and are projected to be 15% in 2025, while reinsurance capital closed 2024 at an all-time high of $607 billion.

Guy Carpenter anticipates seeing a continuation of this trend, with capital growth of 5% to 7% by year-end 2025.

Dean Klisura, President and CEO, Guy Carpenter, commented: “The current trading environment is one of the most favorable for reinsurers in many years, evidenced by the additional capital being attracted to the sector.

“We see this as a tremendous opportunity to re-balance the market dynamics in our clients’ favor. More capacity will continue to moderate pricing, give clients more diversification of reinsurance partners, and provide better solutions to protect earnings.”

“Reinsurers easily absorbed the 5% to 7% increase in client demand for property catastrophe limit. Moreover, reinsurer capacity exceeded demand by more than 20%, driving risk-adjusted rate decreases of 5% to 15% for non-loss impacted programs, and risk-adjusted rate increases of 10% to 20% for loss-impacted programs,” Guy Carpenter explained.

Against this backdrop, the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, particularly catastrophe bonds, has shown remarkable resilience and scale.

Issuance so far in 2025, across 144A cat bonds and private cat bonds sat at over $17.56 billion for the first half of 2025, which is very close to the Artemis-tracked annual record of $17.7 billion from full-year 2024, as new quarterly issuance records were set in both Q1 and Q2 this year.

Download your copy of the new Q2 2025 Artemis cat bond market report here to read more.

In 2025, GC Securities, Guy Carpenter’s capital markets arm, has led the way with 23 catastrophe bond placements, more than any other broker in the market year-to-date. This level of activity underscores continued investor demand for structured reinsurance risk, particularly as underlying insurance market conditions remain stable and loss activity has normalised.

Shifting focus to casualty, Guy Carpenter reported continued discipline at the Spring 2025 renewals, with two factors helping drive more stable outcomes.

“First, reinsurers and clients evaluated trading relationships across property, casualty, and specialty programs. Reinsurers looked to find balanced support across all programs for a given client.

“Second, carrier underwriting actions have improved casualty economics for reinsurers, particularly proportional programs where insurers share ground-up premium and loss.

“As a result, through mid-year renewals, ceding commissions on proportional placements generally renewed flat to slightly down following 18-24 months of reductions. Excess of loss placements continued to face rate pressure as loss severity drives more volatility for reinsurers – generally rates increased 10-20%, although each renewal was highly customized based on the individual portfolio,” the broker concluded.

Read all of our reinsurance renewal news coverage.

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A wave of alternative capital, led by a record-setting surge in catastrophe bond issuance, helped reinsurers meet growing demand without pushing prices higher at the July 1 renewals, according to Gallagher Re, as cedants secured improved terms in property and specialty lines.

While traditional reinsurance capital reached a new high of $769 billion at year-end 2024, Gallagher Re’s latest 1st View report highlights the critical role of insurance-linked securities (ILS) and cat bonds in sustaining competitive pressure through mid-2025.

Issuance so far in 2025, across 144A cat bonds and private cat bonds we’ve tracked, sat at over $17.56 billion for the first half of 2025, which is very close to the Artemis-tracked annual record of $17.7 billion from full-year 2024, as new quarterly issuance records were set in both Q1 and Q2 this year.

According to Gallagher Re, this wave of transactions, driven by strong investor demand and sponsor confidence, ultimately helped reinsurers meet increased demand without pushing prices higher.

Commenting on the July 2025 reinsurance renewals, Tom Wakefield, CEO Gallagher Re, said: “Buyers generally experienced a more competitive reinsurance market at the July 1 renewal compared to recent years, with capacity available even where demand increased, and reinsurers looking to grow.

“Clients were largely able to secure risk-adjusted rate reductions for property treaties and were well-placed to hold pricing broadly flat in casualty lines – in part, as underlying pricing increases continue to flow through to reinsurers.

“With these conditions in place, clients had the opportunity to challenge the status quo, and secure improvements to the structure and terms of their property and specialty reinsurance programs.”

Reinsurers entered the July renewals in “good financial shape” Wakefield noted, with strong 2024 results and ROEs well above the cost of capital.

“Q1 results were weaker due to the impact of January’s unprecedented wildfires in Los Angeles, California, but barring further exceptional cat events, reinsurers remain on track for another good year overall,” Wakefield added.

“As noted in Gallagher Re’s Reinsurance Market Report in April, reinsurers are currently on track to deliver healthy ROEs in the mid-teens for 2025, with traditional reinsurance capital set to increase by another 6% (assuming average results for the rest of the year).”

Despite these fundamentals, cedants achieved risk-adjusted rate reductions of 10–15% on average in property catastrophe programs, particularly for loss-free or structurally enhanced portfolios.

“The increase in reinsurance dedicated capital has been driven mainly by retained earnings at the traditional reinsurance groups, rather than new entrants or capital raises.” Wakefield added.

“We are also collaborating with clients to utilize non-traditional capital vehicles, such as sidecars, where interest in accessing insurance risk remains robust.”

While traditional capital hit new highs, it was the alternative capital layer that gave buyers greater flexibility, helping maintain competitive tension and push back against previously hardened terms.

The cat bond market remained highly efficient, with a Q2 weighted average upsize at 27% indicating investor oversubscription, and a steady market multiple of 3.09, even amid increased issuance.

“The influx of deals in Q2 has been met with ample investor capital, with sponsors continuing to experience deal-upsizes and spread reductions,” Gallagher Re explained.

Gallagher Re also highlighted a 10% increase in property cat sidecar market size since the start of the year and noted that casualty sidecars are gaining traction, with several new entrants accessing the structure in H1.

This marks a growing willingness among ILS investors to engage with more complex and diversified risks outside the traditional property catastrophe space.

Looking ahead, Gallagher Re explained that 2025’s renewals are showing a consistent trend: a market in which the balance of supply and demand has tilted back toward reinsurance buyers.

Reinsurers are increasingly looking to deploy their significant capital, but they remain disciplined in their approach.

Wakefield, added: “Buyers generally experienced a more competitive reinsurance market at the July 1 renewal compared to recent years, with capacity available, even where demand increased, and reinsurers looking to grow.

“With these conditions in place, clients had the opportunity to challenge the status quo, and secure improvements to the structure and terms of their property and specialty reinsurance programs.”

Read all of our reinsurance renewal news coverage.

ILS drives structural flexibility and softer pricing at July renewals: Gallagher Re was published by: www.Artemis.bm
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Australian primary insurance giant Suncorp Group has purchased a smaller reinsurance tower at the mid-year 2025 renewals and despite having spent time assessing alternative reinsurance structures, at this stage there appears to have been minimal change to its protection buying strategy.

A year ago, Suncorp renewed its main catastrophe reinsurance tower to provide protection up to $6.75 billion, having lifted the top by $350 million at the mid-year 2024 renewal.

For the 2025 to 2026 year, Suncorp has reduced the size of its reinsurance tower and also non-renewed a drop-down arrangements, as it seemingly seeks to reduce its costs of protection, even while acknowledging improved reinsurance market conditions, from a buyer perspective.

The renewed reinsurance tower features catastrophe limit up to a smaller $6.3 billion for the coming year, with catastrophe reinsurance available for major events from the same $350 million retention, for first and second events.

There are subtle changes to the overall reinsurance structure, that should enhance its responsiveness for the buyer, but in the main adjustments seem minimal.

Recall that, earlier this year, Suncorp said it was assessing “alternative” reinsurance structures for its next renewal at the mid-year, as the company looks to optimise its protection arrangements.

While there may be alternative capital embedded in the renewed program, on a collateralized or fronted basis, the insurer has not taken the step of venturing into the catastrophe bond market, or launching any kind of insurance-linked securities (ILS) structure of its own.

Suncorp said today that the review “explored a range of markets and both traditional and alternative reinsurance structures, including whole of account quota shares and aggregate cover programs,” with a goal to optimise for shareholder value.

“The review concluded that our clear objectives of optimising outcomes for our shareholders and customers would be best met by the program announced today,” Suncorp CEO Steve Johnston.

“In the current market, capacity has increased significantly for main catastrophe covers and pricing has improved. For other types of cover, including aggregate covers, capacity remains limited and expensive.”

Johnston added that Suncorp will “continue to monitor both traditional and alternative reinsurance markets and assess
future opportunities in reference to the considerations outlined above.”

Johnston also commented on reinsurance costs, saying, “Over the past couple of years, reinsurers materially reset their appetite for deploying capital to cover smaller or mid-sized events in both Australia and New Zealand. This, and increased reinsurance pricing, has seen the cost of insurance, particularly home insurance, increase rapidly.

“While the pricing of household policies will continue to reflect underlying risks and broader economic inflation, it’s pleasing that this major input cost appears to have stabilised.”

The main Suncorp catastrophe cover will protect the company against losses from $500 million and $6.3 billion, with one full prepaid reinstatement.

A multi-year structured reinsurance solution has been brought in to replace the group cover that reduced the retention to the aforementioned $350 million. This new addition features a profit share mechanism and reinsurer losses are capped at $600 million over a three-year term.

Suncorp noted that this new multi-year solution comes with lower cost, as well as the potential profit share benefits.

In addition, a second reinstatement of the $500 million to $1 billion layer of the main catastrophe program has been added, while citing it as inefficient, Suncorp said a dropdown limiting losses from a second event to $250 million has not been renewed.

Group dropdown covers have been purchased to reduce the third and fourth event retention to $250 million as well, and an Australian dropdown program continues to reduce retention for a third and fourth event in Australia to $150 million, while in New Zealand, buydown cover (including a prepaid reinstatement) has been purchased to cover between NZ$200 million and the Group’s maximum event retention of $350 million, in line with last year.

Analysts are calling the Suncorp program minimally changed this morning, saying that the company appears to be trying to further reduce its protection costs, despite its growing exposure base.

The upshot of the slightly changed reinsurance program is an expectation of slightly lower costs again for Suncorp, “reflecting strong reinsurance rate reductions and changes to the program, partially offset by exposure growth in the portfolio,” the company explained.

After alternative structure review, Suncorp buys less reinsurance with minimal changes was published by: www.Artemis.bm
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