Swiss Re expects pricing at the 1 January 2027 renewals across EMEA to vary, emphasising that the region is not a single market and that a deal-by-deal, client-by-client approach is needed to understand individual market idiosyncrasies and match sustainable reinsurance models to clients’ needs.
In our latest video interview, Reinsurance News spoke with Nikhil da Victoria Lobo, Head of P&C for Western & Southern Europe and the Middle East & Africa at global reinsurer Swiss Re, ahead of the annual Baden-Baden Reinsurance meeting.
During the interview, da Victoria Lobo emphasised the importance of staying close to clients and understanding their individual needs in a varied EMEA reinsurance market, explaining that it’s not just one market.
“Especially when you look at Europe, and add the lens of not only the countries, and obviously the Middle East and Africa, the range of countries, coupled with the range of perils, and even when we think about the business models our clients are conducting, it sometimes seems like an overwhelming landscape. This is where proximity with the clients matters more and more. You have to know what your client does,” said da Victoria Lobo.
Looking ahead to the January 1 2027 renewals, da Victoria Lobo again emphasised that Europe is not one renewal, and that there will be any range of markets while capacity remains strong.
“There are also markets that have had losses this year, and that’s going to be a very different story,” he said. “Our approach to it is, while fully understanding as a marketplace, really going deal-by-deal, client-by-client, to understand the idiosyncrasies and finding ways to match a sustainable reinsurance model with their needs at this renewal moment.”
Da Victoria Lobo also highlighted the challenges posed by secondary perils across Europe, with severe convective storms contributing significantly to natural catastrophe losses.
“If you look at 2025, 65% of the natural catastrophe losses in Europe came from secondary perils. Of that, $1.5 billion, so about 36%, came from just severe convective storms. So, it puts in perspective, and I can tell you, 2026 has had its share of events such as this, including recently in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, we had a big hailstorm, about €2.2 billion is the latest estimate. So, yes, this is a real challenge,” he said.
In light of this, da Victoria Lobo explained that Swiss Re’s approach begins with understanding what clients need from their reinsurance protection before developing solutions to address those requirements.
“We want to understand what is it the clients are really looking for? Is it frequency? Is it volatility? Is it solvency? And then building solutions from there. It could be multi-line, it could be multi-year, it could be parametric, it could be just a restructuring of what they have already. We are open for the dialogue, and we’re open to solve the problems, but the need comes first,” he noted.
Watch the full video interview to hear more from Swiss Re’s da Victoria Lobo on conversations with clients at Baden-Baden, the upcoming renewals, what makes a truly constructive insurer and reinsurer partnership, and more.
The full video interview is embedded below.
