The reinsurance industry has been operating reasonably efficiently and has shown resilience to large losses like the Los Angeles wildfires in January, and, after the 2025 renewal periods, Urs Baertschi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Property & Casualty (P&C) Reinsurance at industry giant Swiss Re, expects discipline to be maintained.
In our latest video interview, now available to watch in full, Reinsurance News spoke with Swiss Re’s Baertschi about this year’s renewals and the outlook for January 1st, as well as market trends and what the dominant talking points might be at this year’s RVS in Monte Carlo.
“I would say the market has been operating reasonably efficiently. If you look at the ability to absorb some losses throughout the entire value chain, including very large losses like the LA wildfires, the industry has been able to do that in a resilient way.
“When you look at the supply and demand side, there’s plenty of capital here to match up with the risks that the industry is facing. And then when you look at the behaviour of the various market participants, it is still reasonably disciplined. It is a dynamic and a competitive market, but it’s still reasonably disciplined,” said Baertschi.
During the interview, Baertschi also commented on the January 1st, 2026, renewals, noting that while it is too early to predict as a lot can still happen between now and year-end, he expects the current environment around discipline and wordings to persist.
We also discussed potential structural changes that could shape the industry in the future, alongside the potential influence of persistent inflation and geopolitical uncertainties, evolving climate and secondary peril exposures.
“When you look at the percent of the secondary perils over the last five years, they made up 60% of all of the nat cat losses. So, maybe one of their events is not so big, but in the aggregate, they’re not secondary at all,” said Baertschi.
Watch the full video interview with Swiss Re’s Baertschi to hear his thoughts on the casualty reinsurance marketplace as well, opportunities for Swiss Re’s P&C Re portfolio, and what he expects to dominate discussions at the annual meeting of the reinsurance industry in Monte Carlo, which is just days away.
“We do this really on a client by client basis. But the overall message from us is around consistency and transparency,” he said.
The full video interview is embedded below.
