Insurer Zurich renewed its global aggregate catastrophe treaty at January 1st with an uplift in capacity, and also added cyber coverage to its global top catastrophe excess of loss treaty, and secured a higher retention for its Europe all perils reinsurance tower.
Alongside its results for 2025, global insurer Zurich has revealed its catastrophe reinsurance protections for 2026, highlighting overall stable renewal conditions and favourable pricing.
Notably, the insurer has renewed its global aggregate cat treaty, which returned last April after Zurich stopped renewing its aggregate coverage in 2023.
In line with the April 2025 renewal, the aggregate cover renewed at 1.1 2026 still has an occurrence deductible of $50 million, but Zurich has placed $380 million of a $400 million limit, with 5% co-participation, above an $850 million retention. Back in April, the retention was the same, but Zurich placed just $350 million of a $400 million limit, so has increased the capacity of its aggregate cover with “risk adjusted stable prices.”
It’s another sign that reinsurers are more willing to provide frequency protection to meet demand in what’s been described as a very competitive reinsurance market at 1.1 2026.
Zurich also renewed its Europe all perils, US all perils, and rest of world all perils reinsurance towers at January 1st, which for the most part are unchanged, with some minor adjustments to the European coverage.
For 2026, Zurich’s Europe all perils retention has increased to $505 million from $486 million last year, and the European regional cat treaty, which sits directly above the retention, has increased to $463 million from $446 million. Above this layer sits the global cat treaty which is unchanged at $1.2 billion for 2026, while the global top cat layer at the top of the tower is also unchanged at $400 million.
“We renewed our Global Top Cat XL including an added cyber coverage with a risk adjusted reduction in renewal pricing, reflecting reinsurers strong confidence in our portfolio,” said Zurich.
The US all perils retention of $650 million is the same as last year, as is the $550 million US regional cat treaty, which sits above the retention, the $1.2 billion global cat treaty, the $400 million global top cat layer, and also the $215 million North American earthquake swap, which sits at the top of the tower.
However, when compared to the January 1st, 2025, renewal, there are some other differences with the US all perils tower for 2026, including a $50 million increase in the retention, a $50 million reduction in the US regional cat treaty, and a $100 million increase to the North American earthquake swap.
The rest of world all perils tower is unchanged from last year, with a retention of $200 million, regional cat treaty of $300 million, global cat treaty of $1.2 billion, and then the $400 million global top cat layer.
“Other treaties such as the Global Surety XOL or U.S. Liability Quota Share have been renewed without major changes at fairly stable conditions and favorable pricing,” explained Zurich.
You can see Zurich’s Group catastrophe reinsurance protection for 2026 below.
This morning, Zurich’s Group CFO, Claudia Cordioli, commented on reinsurance market conditions during a media call: “Overall, it is a constructive reinsurance market that we are seeing. We are happy as well to see that reinsurers are disciplined on terms and conditions, because this needs to remain a healthy market for everyone involved.”
