Sven Althoff, Member of the Executive Board for Property & Casualty at Hannover Re, said this morning that the reinsurer is expecting losses from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East in its specialty reinsurance book, although so far there’s a lack of any noticeable reported losses.
Given the live and dynamic situation in the Middle East, Althoff, during a media call following the release of the firm’s 2025 results, emphasised that it’s still far too early for Hannover Re to provide any estimate about potential financial impact from the war.
“From a coverage point of view, most of the traditional P&C lines of business do exclude coverage for war. On the other hand, we are expecting losses coming out of the specialty reinsurance portfolio where explicit coverage for war-related perils is given,” he explained.
On the call, Althoff was questioned further on this and specifically what lines of specialty business might be affected.
“When it comes to the heads of cover that are potentially exposed to war perils on the specialty side, it is marine and aviation, war coverage, both for hull and cargo. You have exposure on the property side via political violence and war land policies. And depending a little bit on how the war is going through the potential economic impact of the war, you can also think about potential involvement of classes like trade credit or political risk when you think about project financing, for example,” said Althoff.
These covers, he continued, are the ones Hannover Re is observing very closely, although to date, there’s “nothing major when it comes to actual losses to report”.
The April 1st reinsurance renewal season is fast-approaching, and while Althoff has observed an impact on firm order terms from the war situation, he underlined that “it’s much too early to say, with the lack of any noticeable losses reported today, but I would not expect a significant impact.”
Yesterday, we reported on commentary from leaders at re/insurance broker Aon around the war in the Middle East, as the firm highlighted that numerous insurance lines are being impacted.
