During the Q1 2024 earnings call, W. Robert Berkley, Jr., President and CEO of W. R. Berkley Corporation, notes that despite property cat reaching peak prices, there remains profit potential, particularly in the reinsurance property sector.
Berkley underscores, “just because pricing has peaked, that doesn’t mean there’s not still a good margin to have.”
He further states, “the reinsurance market, which forced the firming, is out ahead. I think there’s still a margin to be had there.”
Berkley highlights the property segment within their reinsurance business as robust, but acknowledges, “we think that property cat specifically has perhaps seen the peak.”
While the impact of these price hikes on the broader insurance market is notable, the pressure isn’t as intense as it was a year ago, particularly in the E&S segment.
“Right now, we think that opportunity, generally speaking, still exists in property. How quickly that will dissipate, I don’t know. But we play close attention to it, and we will not have an issue shutting off the spigot if we don’t think it is a good use of capital going forward,” Berkley concludes.
His comments come after the release of the firm’s Q1 2024 results.
