Signals point to risk-adjusted rate improvements at 1/1: Conduit Re

Conduit Re, the Bermuda headquartered global reinsurance company that launched for the 2021 underwriting year, said today there are signals that further risk-adjusted rate improvements could be ahead, at the upcoming January renewals.

Conduit Re has been taking advantage of the hard reinsurance market conditions and deploying more capacity in 2023, resulting in 56.4% more in ultimate premiums written through the first nine months of this year.

Property underwriting is up nearly 60% for the year-to-date and that’s against a backdrop of 30% higher pricing across the Conduit property reinsurance portfolio.

The company said that, “Pricing levels and terms and conditions continued to improve overall in the 2023, driven by strong continued demand for reinsurance from insurers.

“Conduit Re is seeing an increasing number of opportunities to deploy its capital into the areas and products that it targets. The non-catastrophe elements of both property and specialty in particular are providing good opportunities for selective growth.”

Greg Roberts, Chief Underwriting Officer, said, “The property and specialty accounts continue to show very strong underlying trading dynamics, providing significant growth opportunities, in line with our targeted prioritisation. Our focus remains on quality partners who understand their own local market places and whom we will support as their volumes grow.”

With its efficient business model and a strong capital base, Conduit Re believes it is “ideally positioned for continued growth into favourable market conditions ahead of the 1 January renewals.”

The company is anticipating improved market conditions as well, saying that, “The upcoming 1 January renewal season remains a primary indication point for pricing in the reinsurance market and there are signals that currently point to further risk-adjusted rate improvements in an already hard market.”

Conduit Re believes that the supply-demand imbalance continues in reinsurance and will provide continued positive momentum in both pricing and terms and conditions going forwards.

Trevor Carvey, Chief Executive Officer, said, “The third quarter has been a great period for us at Conduit Re. Renewals and new business alike have contributed to the growth of our portfolio, with the non-catastrophe and specialty space continuing to receive much of our attention. The estimated ultimate premiums written of $909.3 million in the first nine months of 2023 represented an increase of 56.4% over the same period last year and our underwriting teams continue to deploy capacity efficiently in this dynamic marketplace across a broad range of both quota share and excess of loss opportunities.”

Neil Eckert, Executive Chairman, added, “Trevor and his team have created a scalable business model and a platform that is delivering strong organic sustainable growth and we have an ample capital base that will enable us to continue to do so. We expect the duration of the current hard cycle to be extended due to structural changes in the industry, continued inflationary pressures and adverse development on the industry’s legacy casualty business.”