Reinsurance Leaders Practice Group

The Reinsurance Practice Group met on 22nd October, with an extended group of senior participants, this time from around the world. The benefit of the virtual environment is that we can now welcome our peers from different jurisdictions. This is something we plan to continue when we get back to whatever the “new normal” looks like in 2021 - by allowing some people to join via video link and others can attend in real-time - as we all know, people enjoy the full LMForums English Breakfast! 

We tried to make the session as close as we could to a “physical” meeting, with the initial “Meet and Greet” component, replicating what happens at our sessions normally, as many Zoom type meetings are quite clinical and don’t allow for proper interaction between professionals. It’s always nice to welcome new Members. 

Key learning points from the Practice Group session:

• The reinsurance sector has responded reasonably well from the Pandemic, so far, from an operational and customer service perspective
• There are some concerns around the learning and development opportunities in the workplace, especially for younger members of staff
• Younger members of staff seem to want to return to the workplace, more than other age groups, for a variety of reasons suggested by Group members
• Certain job functions have proven to be even more productive in the “virtual” world, much to the surprise of some Practice Group members
• Business acquisitions and new employment hires have taken place totally in a “virtual” environment - successfully
• Technology has played a huge role in enabling the sector to function and in some case achieve promising results
• The future working environment in more than likely to be a “hybrid” of physical attendance and WFH/WFA
• For many firms, renewals have remained relatively stable but new business is proving far more problematic
• Relationships between primary carriers and reinsurers, including brokers, are critical to the success of the sector - there is some concern that a protracted period of “remote working” may impact this in a negative way
• At the moment the sector has benefited from a hardening marketplace, with rate increases across P&C lines, but is this an artificial hike or sustained - with other international markets not necessarily adopting the same rate increases
• Whilst coping with COVID19 is at the top of the agenda for many reinsurance firms, other matters are also in need of ongoing consideration, such as Brexit, international competition, accumulation factors and alternative protection structures

If you are a Reinsurance professional and would like to be part of the Practice Group moving forward, do get in touch at info@lmforums.com. As we all know, the Market functions best when it works together and hopefully these sessions help you to stay in touch with your wider peer group.

A big thank you to Freeborn & Peters, for supporting the Practice Group. Their work stateside on behalf of many London Market carriers brings a valuable dimension to the Group and we appreciate their involvement. Do reach out to them if they can be of assistance with litigation or arbitration and consider linking up with them on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joetmccullough/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-keely-b74395156/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-bush-069b658/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-o-bryan-2668bb10/

Next Reinsurance Practice Group – 2nd February 2021 at 2pm.

Comments from some of our attendees at this session:

“Just a note to say you’re doing a wonderful job and it was nice to see an extended group with an international feel”

“Thanks once again for the invitation to attend this latest Practice Group session. I’ve enjoyed it so much, and found it to be a great opportunity to stay in touch with the market and network despite Covid19 restrictions and being on maternity leave”