The European “Big Four” reinsurers – Swiss Re, Munich Re, Hannover Re and SCOR – continue to have an appetite for property catastrophe reinsurance despite rate softening, according to AM Best’s recent market segment report.
The ratings agency noted that this continued appetite follows a period of right-sizing of portfolios, increasing attachment points and moving away from aggregate covers and working layers.
During the 2026 renewals, prices continued to soften but remained broadly within the Big Four’s risk appetites, although there were disparities between the reinsurers.
Hannover Re’s in-force book grew by 12.3% at the mid-year renewals despite rates on the renewed business reducing by 4.5% on an inflation and risk-adjusted basis, and the firm said that some new nat cat business remains attractive despite softening.
In contrast, Munich Re’s volume of business written at the July renewals fell by 9.1% with a risk-adjusted price decline of -5.5%, although the reinsurer’s CEO also said that the P&C market is still attractive.
Global reinsurer SCOR continued to grow in diversifying lines during the mid-year 2026 renewals, while property cat remained stable. Traditional reinsurance estimated gross premium income (EGPI) grew 1.3% at the mid-year, with a year-to-date EGPI of 3.2%, and gross price change of -2.4%.
For Swiss Re, premium volume increased by 11% at the mid-year reinsurance renewals, driven by selective growth in property proportional and specialty lines. Year-to-date, the reinsurer achieved a 0.5% gross premium volume increase against the business up for renewal, as increases in property and casualty more than offset targeted reductions in nat cat.
So, while varied given each firm’s differing market shares and appetite in the current market environment, Europe’s largest reinsurers still view parts of the property cat space attractive, although just how attractive come the January 1 2027 renewals remains to be seen, and will of course be influenced by loss activity during the Atlantic hurricane season and beyond.
Interestingly, an executive at Hannover Re said that he expects property cat rate reductions to persist but decelerate at the January renewals as they’ve come off of a high base with meaningful reductions through two renewal cycles.
AM Best highlighted that the Big Four are also targeting growth across their life and non-life portfolios. Longevity products, as well as financial solutions, are seen as attractive growth opportunities in the life segment, while specialty lines such as cyber, marine and engineering are viewed as attractive by reinsurers for both insurance and reinsurance activities. Growth in these lines is aimed at increasing diversification and supporting more stable earnings.
Concerns around adverse development in US casualty books have persisted into 2025. In recent years, all four reinsurers have taken advantage of strong operating performance trends to further strengthen non-life loss reserves. This was also the case in 2025, although approaches varied, with some targeting strengthening for certain parts of their books or certain cedants, while others focused on overall resiliency strengthening. AM Best noted that reserve strengthening charges have been comfortably absorbed by profit margins in other non-life lines of business.
In 2025, the Big Four reported strong results, benefiting from good rate adequacy and continued underwriting discipline.
All four reinsurers continued to benefit from business written during the hard reinsurance market, with strong pricing and favourable terms and conditions supporting robust performance metrics across their property and casualty reinsurance segments.
The performance of the Big Four’s life portfolios was also strong in 2025, supported by the reduced impact of excess mortality in the US compared with previous years.
For 2026, AM Best said the Big Four are maintaining ambitious profit targets despite softening rates and increased uncertainty stemming from the geopolitical environment. The reinsurers also continued to perform strongly in the first half of 2026, helped by a benign catastrophe experience.
