Clarisse Kopff, Member of the Board of Management at Munich Re, expressed that the company expects pricing to be a key topic of discussion at the 2025 Baden-Baden Reinsurance Meeting next week, while also emphasizing that the reinsurer is ready to deploy more capital ahead of the January renewals with structures projected to hold.
During Munich Re’s 2025 Baden-Baden breakfast briefing this morning, Kopff was questioned on the current state of the reinsurance market and what she expects to see in terms of price at Baden-Baden.
“So, is the market weak? First, let me take a step back. Our global P&C portfolio is made of 25% structured solutions. I showed examples of it with our motor book. And there is another 15% that is in Specialties, and these lines of business, they respond to totally different market dynamics and cycle.
“When we talk about pricing, it’s very often property pricing. So, what do we see? And these lines of business are, by definition, a bit less sensitive to the property cycle, because these are other lines of business,” Kopff explained.
Turning to property, Kopff explained that demand remains very strong, highlighting how Europe in particular, within the past five years has been hit consistently by nat cat events, while also acknowledging that the past few months have been a bit quieter.
“The industry is also growing at a pace that is more rapid than GDP, because of exposure dynamics, because of demographics, because of urbanization, etc,” she continued.
In addition, Kopff also outlined that both demand and supply remain strong, which is ultimately intensifying competition.
Kopff continued: “So, prices will be a discussion point, although the year is not finished yet, because we still have potential climate events in front of us. We consider the market is still priced adequately, if not attractively, and we actually are ready to deploy more capital, as I said, if the price is risk adequate and if terms and conditions are sustainable. Of course, we would be ready to let go of business which is not priced adequately for the sake of active cycle management, as we would do in any point of the cycle.”
Adding: “Now, reinsurance structures are very important to the quality of the portfolio, and here we expect them to actually hold, as we are seeing from preliminary discussions.”
