Paris-headquartered global reinsurer SCOR is now fully focused on the January 1 2027 reinsurance renewals, which Jean-Paul Conoscente, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SCOR P&C, recently described as very late, while noting that, so far, the firm is seeing European catastrophe rate decreases in the high single-digit to low double-digit range.
Leaders at SCOR took questions from analysts this afternoon following the release of a solid set of third quarter and nine month 2026 results.
In his opening remarks, CEO of SCOR, Thierry Léger, emphasised that the company’s teams are fully focused on the upcoming renewal season.
“We expect competition to remain high and have a clear priority for our underwriters: margin and quality over volume,” he said. “Over recent years, we have strengthened our capital discipline, remaining very selective and deploying capital only when risk-return is attractive. In recent years, for example, we announced that our direct insurance business would exit U.S. casualty and Space. These lines of business lack adequate margins, and their negative outlook remains unchanged.”
Later in the call, the reinsurer was questioned further on the outlook for 1.1, and whether there’s any change in sentiment from RVS in Monte Carlo in early September.
“It’s still very early in the process,” said Conoscente. “What we’re seeing, in terms of the treaty renewals, generally, globally, it’s a very late renewal with many submissions not even yet sent to reinsurers.”
On the few submissions SOCR has seen so far, and from its conversations at Baden-Baden and over the past month, Conoscente explained that the focus has really been on pricing.
“And given the good loss experience, we expect there to be continued pressure on pricing in cat, in particular. Right now, it’s a few European countries that are being quoted, and probably final terms. Here, we see price decreases, I’d say, high single-digit, low double-digit is what we’re seeing so far,” said Conoscente.
At the January 1 2026 renewals, Marsh Re’s Europe Property Catastrophe ROL Index decreased 15%, against a 12% decline for the reinsurance broker’s Global Property Catastrophe ROL Index. The firm reported in late June that for the mid-year renewals, the European property cat ROL index remained broadly stable, while the global index saw a 16% reduction.
Of course, there’s some way to go before Jan 1 and it appears as though it could be a very late renewal, but property cat rate declines in Europe in the high single-digit to low double-digit range would reflect a slight deceleration from the previous year, which some reinsurers are expecting in spite of the increasingly competitive environment.
Conoscente further explained that the renewal discussion varies by line of business, noting that loss-impacted lines such as marine, energy, and war, have experienced significant price increases. Whereas for lines that have been less impacted by losses, there’s clear pressure on pricing.
“So, it’s really a matter of seeing where we are today from a price adequacy point of view, and how much additional price is required or how much reductions are acceptable,” he said.
