Our business opportunities and risks

Non-life reinsurance

Irrespective of the expectations for individual segments and markets in non-life reinsurance, it should be noted that the probabilities of occurrence for (natural) catastrophe events in terms of their number and scale as well as their magnitude for the insurance industry are subject to considerable fluctuations. Hence, the total burden of losses in the current financial year may be significantly higher or lower than catastrophe loss assumptions based on multi-year trends and averages.

What is more, in numerous lines there is a correlation between the state of the overall economy and the claims frequency. A healthy economic climate naturally leads to higher claims frequencies – for example in the motor and engineering lines. In credit and surety reinsurance the correlation is inverted: as insolvency numbers rise, so do loss ratios – but also prices for reinsurance covers.

General growth stimuli for non-life reinsurance are expected to come from the more exacting requirements placed on companies’ risk-based capital resources; for them, the transfer of risk to reinsurers with good ratings offers an economically attractive alternative.