In a recent interview with Reinsurance News around the Singapore International Reinsurance Conference (SIRC), Anna Ziswiler, Head of Property and Casualty (P&C) Reinsurance SID, Swiss Re, emphasised that the reinsurer is focused on maintaining a strong, well-diversified portfolio in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region as the firm works to help clients navigate a changing risk landscape.
Based in Singapore, Ziswiler leads Swiss Re’s P&C Reinsurance business in Southeast Asia, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, and is a Managing Director and member of the P&C Reinsurance Management Team.
The APAC region covers a wide breadth of countries and re/insurance markets, each with distinct characteristics and market conditions. Given the region’s diversity, Ziswiler began by explaining that it’s important not to approach it with a single regional lens, and that Swiss Re does not manage APAC as a single market.
“Clients are thinking about how to pursue growth, manage volatility, use capital more efficiently and understand new concentrations of risk,” said Ziswiler. “They value a partner that can connect global knowledge with local insight and bring together underwriting, analytics and tailored solutions around a specific business objective. As such, we continue to assess opportunities on a case-by-case basis, focusing on long-term partnerships to find solutions that are sustainable for both sides.”
As Swiss Re navigates the diversity and complexity of the APAC region, the focus is on “maintaining a strong, well-diversified portfolio while helping clients respond to a changing risk landscape.”
Ziswiler explained that growth opportunities are emerging from economic development, infrastructure investment, rising asset values, and greater demand for catastrophe and capital protection.
“These include natural catastrophe protection, infrastructure and energy, technology-related risks and solutions that help insurers manage capital or earnings volatility. Increasing investments in semiconductor and AI-related infrastructure across the region, as well as renewable energy, advanced-manufacturing and large-infrastructure sectors are creating additional capacity needs. In Hong Kong, we’ve also noted the potential for specialty lines including marine, precious metals and aviation,” she said.
AI-related infrastructure such as data centres have become a hot topic in the reinsurance industry, viewed as a promising opportunity for growth, although in Asia and globally, there are challenges to consider.
“Data centres are becoming larger, more capital intensive and more interconnected, with complex dependencies on power, cooling and other infrastructure. AI-related investment is accelerating this growth across Asia.
“Natural catastrophe exposure is an important consideration, particularly where facilities and supporting infrastructure are concentrated in hazard-exposed locations,” said Ziswiler.
“Swiss Re can help clients assess site-specific and accumulation risks, improve scenario analysis and structure protection that reflects both physical damage and potential business interruption,” she added.
Alongside emerging risks, APAC is vulnerable to a range of natural catastrophes, but many countries in the region still have some of the lowest rates of insurance penetration globally. Ziswiler explained that closing the gap requires more than additional insurance capacity, and requires understanding and reducing risk through better data, modelling, prevention and adaptation, followed by appropriate risk transfer.
“Swiss Re supports clients and public-sector partners with risk knowledge, traditional reinsurance and solutions such as parametric protection where suitable. Earlier engagement allows us to contribute risk modelling, risk engineering, structuring expertise and global experience to project design, helping governments develop more resilient and insurable projects. The earlier we engage, the greater the opportunity to go beyond pricing risk and help reduce it.
“However, challenges remain, including affordability, limited risk awareness, data gaps and rapidly growing asset exposures. Timing is another key barrier: too often, insurers and reinsurers are brought into the conversation only after a project has been designed and financed, with its risk parameters largely fixed. At that stage, there is less scope to influence the underlying risk, and the conversation centres on whether capacity can be provided and at what price. Addressing these challenges requires continued coordination and collaboration between governments, insurers, reinsurers and other capital providers,” said Ziswiler.
Today, buyers of reinsurance of all shapes and sizes have greater optionality than in the past, supported by the evolution of the alternative risk transfer space and products like catastrophe bonds and parametric solutions.
“Alternative solutions can complement traditional reinsurance by bringing additional capacity or addressing specific protection needs,” said Ziswiler. “Parametric products can provide fast and transparent payouts based on objective triggers, while catastrophe bonds may be relevant for selected peak or tail risks. In India, we have observed increasing interests in exploring parametric solutions for flood, cyclone, heat stress and renewable-energy-related exposures, particularly where traditional indemnity cover may be insufficient or difficult to structure.”
However, Ziswiler emphasised that these solutions are not suitable in every situation, and consideration needs to be given to reliable data, careful trigger design, basis risk, cost and the client’s underlying objective.
“Traditional reinsurance will remain central, with alternative capital broadening the range of available tools,” she added.
To end, Ziswiler looked ahead to the 2027 reinsurance renewals, and what any softening might mean for underwriting discipline, and terms and conditions such as retentions.
“Underwriting discipline becomes more important—not less—in a competitive market. It means maintaining a forward-looking view of loss cost, differentiating between risks and ensuring terms and structures continue to reflect the underlying exposure.
“Retentions and other programme features should be considered in the context of each client’s risk profile and objectives rather than through broad, market-wide assumptions,” she said.
