Globally reinsurance buyers enter the January renewal season with strong momentum. Exposures are evolving, demand is growing, capacity is abundant backed by industry capital is at record levels. Despite lingering headwinds, the market is well-positioned to support profitable growth. As per recent market reports, insurers are expected to increase property catastrophe reinsurance limits globally primarily led by the western markets, Hitesh Joshi.acting CMD, GIC Re
Mumbai: State owned GIC Re, the ninth largest global reinsurer, is set to expand its international business during the Jan 1 renewals.
“GIC Re writes across the globe in more than 140 countries through its head office, branches and subsidiaries, with major presence in Asian region. Our medium term goal is to achieve 60:40 domestic international risk book,” said Hitesh Joshi.acting CMD, GIC Re.
The protection gaps persist, actually may exacerbate given climate change, in every region including the western countries. This renewal may reflect higher demand, ample supply alongside continued disciplined deployment of capital. GIC Re would seek to capitalise on emerging opportunities across geographies and lines of business and bolster its market position, averred Joshi.
Globally reinsurance buyers enter the January renewal season with strong momentum. Exposures are evolving, demand is growing, capacity is abundant backed by industry capital is at record levels. Despite lingering headwinds, the market is well-positioned to support profitable growth. As per recent market reports, insurers are expected to increase property catastrophe reinsurance limits globally primarily led by the western markets, explained Joshi.
“Apart from that, that since we got our rating restoration(from AM Best) of A- in October ’24, which we could not fully avail of during our January ’25 renewal, which we hope to leverage during January ’26 renewal,” added Joshi.
On the ongoing trend of softening price cycle in the international merkets, Joshi said,“ Coming to January ’26 renewal, given that we are coming off from the January ’23 unprecedented hardening that the reinsurance market witnessed across the globe, a very, very significant hardening, which was not witnessed in the last at least may be two to three decades. So coming from that huge price correction, the softening is going on. At the same time, we believe that underwriting discipline is being maintained by the market. So there will be softening and there can be pockets where there can be a little divergent trend. And again, the client experience, the particular loss history of a client will be a major factor in how the account will be treated.”
GIC Re’s broad objective is to maintain its dominance in the domestic market while strategically enhancing its global footprint for diversification and spread,stated Joshi .
On GIC Re’s plan for the Asian reinsurance market, Joshi outlined his company maintained a significant market presence in the Asian reinsurance sector, having written approximately $260 million of premium during the 2024-25 fiscal year through its head office and Labuan Branch from these markets.
The Property segment constitutes a dominant 84 per cent of the business written in these non-India Asian markets. As one of the largest reinsurers in the APAC region, GIC Re intends to further expand its business; however, while Property remains a preferred segment, expansion will be pursued with caution due to the current soft cycle impact on pricing across Asia. Additionally, GIC Re aims to strategically diversify and expand its international portfolio in Agriculture in the APAC region,elaborated Joshi.
“Our financial strength continues to grow and our increasing capital base would enable us to strategically deploy capital to support sustainable growth both domestically and internationally,” said Joshi.