RenRe is top Bermuda company on list of largest reinsurers
RenaissanceRe’s acquisition of Validus Re has helped catapult it into the top spot among Bermudian-headquartered companies included in a ranking of the world’s largest 50 reinsurers.
The annual list assembled by AM Best, the New Jersey-based credit ratings agency, features 15 island-based organisations.
AM Best said the list had been re-engineered this year due to the implementation of IFRS-17 reporting, a new accounting standard, which had led to a lack of comparability among reinsurers.
The agency has listed the top 35 non-IFRS-17 companies as well as the top 15 IFRS-17 reinsurers.
Holding down fifth through eighth spots on the non-IFRS-17 list are RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd, Everest Re Group Ltd, Arch Capital Group Ltd and PartnerRe Ltd.
Also claiming spots in the top 35 are Axis Capital Holdings Ltd (17), Convex Group Ltd (18), Allied World Assurance Co Holdings Ltd (21), Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd (23), new list entrant Ascot Group Ltd (26), SiriusPoint Ltd (29), Somers Re Ltd (31), and Hamilton Insurance Group (35).
On the IFRS-17 list, Sompo International Holdings Ltd and Axa XL hold down the eighth and ninth spots, respectively, while Hiscox Ltd is ranked 15th.
AM Best said: “For the top 35 non-IFRS-17 companies, total reinsurance gross premiums written rose by more than 6 per cent during 2023, driven primarily by strong rate increases rather than exposure growth.
“Despite global investment-market turmoil and severe global catastrophic losses, many reinsurers reported strong underwriting results, which was supplemented by significant growth in fixed-income investment yields, driven by increases in reinvestment rates.
“Notably, Bermudian reinsurers, many of which saw returns on equity higher than 20 per cent, substantially outperformed their cost of capital for the year.”
The ratings agency added: “In 2023, there was a significant change in premium among companies, driven by those making strategic shifts in their portfolio mixes and others taking advantage of the favourable rate environment for property catastrophe reinsurance. Market conditions for non-life reinsurance saw improvement over 2022, providing all reinsurers with significant opportunities.
“Everest Re saw significant growth, with gross premiums rising 23 per cent, to $12.3 billion from $9.3 billion.
“RenaissanceRe displaced Everest in the overall ranking, attributable largely to its 33.9 per cent growth, which includes the impact of its recent acquisition of Validus Re.
“We noted in last year’s report that if 2022 financial statements were consolidated for RenaissanceRe and Validus Re, Renaissance would have ranked higher than Everest. The outsized growth at both companies was supported by capital-raising at the onset of the market hardening.
“Convex’s gross premiums grew 48.6 per cent, from $1.4 billion in 2022 to $2.1 billion in 2023. Founded in 2019, the group is still relatively new but has been growing quickly, with surplus nearly doubling from its initial start-up capital in 2023.
“The company reached underwriting profitability three years after inception. (Convex was first included in the top global reinsurers report last year.)
AM Best said Munich Re and Swiss Re remained the largest global reinsurers, with the former company topping the IFRS-17 list, and the latter heading up the non-IFRS-17 ranking.
• For the full report, see Related Media
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