The largest reinsurance broker in the world, Aon, has released a report on conditions in the reinsurance markets for renewals at the beginning of the year. It said that this was most challenging renewal in a generation, with a fundamental shift in risk appetite and pricing from reinsurers, most especially but not exclusively in property catastrophe reinsurance. Pricing for US catastrophe business hit levels not seen in decades. This ran alongside a narrowing of coverage definition and an increase in the number of exclusions.

Unrealised losses on investment portfolios led to a significant fall in reinsurance company balance sheets, and Aon estimates that global reinsurance capital fell by 17% from the end of 2021; traditional reinsurance capital was down by 19% and alternative capital, which includes collateralised reinsurance and catastrophe bonds, down by 3%.

Aon’s report can be found here