Meeting the challenges of the reinsurance market

Touching all parts of the sector, Aon is one of the giants of the global insurance industry. Insurers play a crucial role in creating a more resilient world, but they are up against a rapidly changing environment with interconnected, emerging risks and intense competition.

Now more than ever, insurers need comprehensive services and global perspectives to understand better and meet their strategic business needs across growth, capital, operational efficiency, and talent.
Aon’s reinsurance arm plays a key role in the company’s offering and risk management framework.

The division leverages the best of Aon to provide insurance industry clients with more relevant and impactful insights and solutions to help them achieve their strategic objectives and make better business decisions. With over 50,000 employees in 120 countries, including key hubs such as London, it can help clients determine the most efficient form of reinsurance through data-led analysis throughout market cycles.

The company advocate for 15+ lines of business globally, including accident & health, agriculture, aviation, casualty, construction, contingency, cyber, commercial auto, credit, marine & energy, life, professional liability, property, retro, fidelity & surety, terrorism, workers’ compensation. Last year, the company placed $3bn in global speciality reinsurance premiums across 400+ clients and placed $30bn in global property reinsurance.

Rupert Moore (pictured), chief executive officer of Aon Reinsurance, told City AM the company’s advantage lies in its ability to build relationships with “our clients and understanding their strategic challenges in reinsurance and talent management.” At the same time, the company has to “balance our relationship-building with providing expertise and solutions to our clients, with a view to helping them shape better business decisions and achieve profitable growth.”

As the CEO of Aon Reinsurance Solutions, Moore’s role is to ensure that Aon colleagues can “fulfil their roles effectively” by “structuring the business to enable execution of the strategy, ensuring the right investment levels, and building a strong team to serve our clients.”

And the team is at the heart of everything Aon does. The team and the network of contacts the company has in and around London as well as the rest of the world. It’s the ability to bring together this network of contacts and organise an internal team around the objectives for growth that’s Aon’s edge, and it’s something Moore has a key role in as the CEO of the reinsurance division.
“For each individual client, we have a dedicated account executive team that brings together the various product expertise into a single holistic team,” he said. “We have seen great success in this approach in recent years, and we anticipate this trend to continue,” Moore continued.

London’s role in the market

London has historically been a world-leading centre of the insurance market, but in recent years, it has lost market share despite growth. Over the past few years, the market has recorded a one-third increase in premium volume. However, this growth rate is lower compared to the US Excess & Surplus Lines market and lower than Bermuda. London’s expertise lies in speciality business, which accounts for approximately 40 per cent of premiums globally. London is particularly strong in areas such as cyber and complex risks.

This is where, Moore notes, the market should focus its growth efforts. “While London is a true global hub for the underwriting world, particularly in speciality business, the growth of competitors such as Bermuda in the property reinsurance market is significant and should be noted,” he explained.

There will be opportunities in the years to come. Aon estimates the demand for reinsurance capacity will continue to grow, driven by factors such as climate change, urbanisation, catastrophe and financial model evolution, and regulation. “We expect the demand for reinsurance capacity to continue growing over the next 10 years, encompassing both traditional and insurance-linked securities solutions,” Moore noted.

“We need to discuss how to accelerate our growth rate and establish London as a global leader,” he added. “To maintain our competitive edge, we need to stay proactive and continuously improve. Otherwise, we risk losing ground to other players in the market.”

The need for talent

A key part of that will be attracting talent to the market. Moore notes the London market as a whole hires between 900 to 1,000 people a year from schools and universities. While Aon itself hires about 100 people annually in the UK in the insurance and reinsurance space. The big players are the largest employers in the market and are responsible for most of the hiring.

“Aon and its two main competitors are responsible for more than half the recruitment,” Moore says. These are the three big brokers in the market. “So how do smaller companies, for instance, syndicates, facilitate more hiring and bring more talent into the industry?” he asks.

That will be the challenge going forward for the sector in a rapidly developing and expanding market. “If we are to grow as a sector, we will need greater and better resources,” Moore says. London needs to fill the pipeline of candidates as the market grows before it misses out on the growth opportunities in front of it.

Other markets, such as Bermuda, are snapping at London’s heels. It’s clear that London as a city can attract talent, but attracting talent into insurance, especially for smaller companies, is a challenge.